


Papa's Job

by Ellie226



Series: You, Me, and Baby Make Three [6]
Category: Glee
Genre: Age Play, Daddy Kink, Diaper, Infantilism, Multi, Spanking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-26
Updated: 2012-07-25
Packaged: 2017-11-10 18:23:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 26,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/469290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellie226/pseuds/Ellie226
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurt being left alone all day was just not a good plan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. When Papa Worked Too Much

Blaine heard feet running toward him as he opened the door. He smiled at Kurt, and was surprised by the face that greeted him.

“What’s wrong baby?” he asked, closing the door behind him.

Kurt sighed, shrugging, “I thought it was Papa. We were going to go to the bookstore, but he’s still not home. And now you’re here, and we’re going to eat dinner, and then it’s time for bed, and I didn’t get to have any fun with Papa.”

Blaine gave him a hug, rubbing his back a little, “Papa’s not home? He’s been working a lot lately.”

“I don’t like it Daddy,” Kurt whined, relaxing against Blaine. 

Daddy hugged him, “I know baby,” he told him. “Do you still want to go to the bookstore? I’ll take you.”

“No. I wanted to go with Papa,” Kurt pouted. Daddy would go, but he got antsy. He didn’t let Kurt look at books as long as Kurt wanted to. When Papa took him, Kurt got to browse until he was ready to go home, and Papa usually let him get something to drink. Sometimes, he even got to drink a latte.

Blaine sighed. He was feeling the neglect too. Other than the fact that he simply missed Dave, Kurt was getting increasingly crabby about Papa’s hours. And Dave promising something and then working late instead, was not going to improve their evening.

“Can you be a big boy and help Daddy with dinner?” Blaine asked, hoping the offer would put Kurt into a better mood.

Kurt shrugged, “When’s Papa coming home?”

“I don’t know baby. Do you want to call him?” Blaine led Kurt to the kitchen as he asked.

Kurt nodded eagerly, “Uh huh. He won’t be mad?”

“No,” Blaine assured him, “Just call and ask him if he’ll be home for dinner. If it isn’t going to be too late, maybe we could do your bath before he gets in?”

Kurt dialed Papa on his cell phone, and Blaine’s heart sank as he listened to half of the conversation. 

“Papa’s never coming home,” Kurt moaned, laying his head on the counter. He wanted Papa. Daddy was fun, but Kurt liked it when Papa was home too.

“Is that what he said?” Blaine asked, going to stand next to Kurt and stroke his hair. “Should we run away to Tahiti together then?”

“It’s not funny,” Kurt grumped, squirming away from Daddy and shoving his hand.

Blaine made his voice stern, “I understand that you miss Papa precious, but you need to watch yourself. Is there something that you need?”

“I need Papa,” Kurt whined. Daddy was mean.

“I understand that baby, but Papa’s at work. What else can we do to make you feel better?”

“Nothing,” Kurt said, grouchy. 

“Okay baby,” Daddy told him, going back to preparing dinner. “Are you going to help me make dinner?”

Kurt shook his head no, “I want Papa,” he repeated.

Blaine put down the knife in his hand and looked at Kurt. “I understand that baby, but Papa is at work. I would like you to not be a crabby pants; what do you think would help with that? Do you want to color? Or you can go play with your toys for a little while.”

“No,” Kurt said, sitting up and crossing his arms across his chest. 

“Kurt,” Daddy warned, “I’m trying to help you so you don’t get a spanking. So either lose the attitude, or I’ll help you with it.”

Kurt fell silent at that, knowing how Daddy helped with bad attitudes. He didn’t want to wait forever on the naughty stool or get spanked. After a few more minutes of pouting, Blaine tried again.

“What would you like baby? Can I get you some juice?” he felt badly for Kurt.

“No,” Kurt said irritably.

“What has got you in such a bad mood?” Blaine said. This seemed like a lot of crabbiness for just missing Dave.

“You,” Kurt said, “You’re bugging me.” 

Blaine nodded at that, “I think you need to go wait on the naughty stool until you’re ready to talk to me like a nice little boy.”

Kurt pouted and sighed his way to the corner. He didn’t have long to wait until Papa got home.

“Papa,” he said, happy as he hopped down off the stool. 

Dave turned him right back around and swatted him, “Go back and sit down. You know better than to leave the naughty stool without permission Kurt.”

Kurt burst into tears then, “You said we’d go shopping, and Daddy’s mean and made me have time out, and I don’t like you,” he shrieked, stomping his foot. “You’re mean you’re mean you’re mean,” he continued, stomping his foot with every ‘mean.’

Dave maybe wouldn’t have responded the way he had, but it had been a long day, and a long week, and he was tired. He walked back over to Kurt, gripping him by one arm and holding him still so he could spank his bottom.

“I am NOT going to put up with that attitude little boy. You can go wait on the bed for me. Go on,” he ended with one final smack toward the bedroom.

Kurt continued crying as he ran to the bedroom, and Dave took a deep breath before he walked into the kitchen to greet Blaine.

“Hi honey, I’m home,” he said wryly.

“So I heard,” Blaine told him, giving Dave a kiss. “What was that little spat about?”

“He left the naughty spot, I’m assuming you sent him there?” Blaine nodded, and Dave continued, “So I gave him a swat and told him to go back. That’s when we had that little meltdown. Has he been giving you a rough time?”

“He’s been a little cranky,” Blaine said, “I was hoping that time out would help him remember the rules, but it sounds like we’re past the point of no return. Early bed?”

Dave nodded at that, rummaging through a cupboard for the ensure, “I’m thinking a bottle, diaper, and then early bed.”

“Sounds good to me. You want to handle the baby, or should I?”

“I’ll do it,” Dave said, filling a bottle. 

“Holler when he’s ready to be tucked in so I can come give him a kiss.”

Dave crushed up a benadryl and dropped it in the bottle. Giving it a final shake, he went to the bedroom.

Kurt was not in the bed. Instead, he was sitting in the rocking chair, glaring at the door. 

“Bed. Now,” Papa said, pointing.

Kurt pouted as he walked to the bed, but his expression changed when Papa pulled one of the diapers out.

“No diaper!” he wailed.

“Yes diaper. You’re acting like a sleepy baby,” Papa told him, forcing himself to remain calm. He was not in the mood.

Kurt threw himself back on the bed, arms crossed over his chest, “You’re mean,” he said, “You promised we’d go to the bookstore, and then you didn’t come home.”

“I’m sorry,” Dave said, pulling Kurt’s pants off. “I couldn’t leave the office pumpkin. I told you that on the phone.”

That didn’t help Kurt’s mood, “I hate your stupid job.”

Dave nodded at that, slipping Kurt’s diaper on, “I understand. I’m not thrilled with it at the moment either.”

As soon as the diaper was on, Papa reached for a sleeper.

“I don’t want that one,” Kurt gritted out.

Dave took a deep breath. He didn’t want to take out his frustration on Kurt. “Baby, you are on very thin ice right now. Do you want a spanking before bed? Because that’s where you’re headed.”

“I want Daddy. I don’t like you,” Kurt spat.

“Daddy’s cooking dinner.”

“I WANT DADDY!” Kurt yelled at him. Papa was mean; he worked all day. The only time he came home was to spank Kurt and send him to bed.

Dave was done. “That is enough little boy,” he lectured, folding Kurt’s knees up toward his torso and holding them there. Raining hard swats on the backs of Kurt’s thighs, he lectured, “You are allowed to be angry, but you cannot talk to me that way. And I heard about how you were treating Daddy before I got home. It’s time for bed; I expect this attitude to be gone by the time you wake up tomorrow.”

Kurt shrieked angrily. He hated being spanked in this position. It stretched out the skin on his thighs which made it hurt worse, and it was just embarrassing. 

When Papa was done, he unpinned Kurt’s legs and quickly began stuffing Kurt’s feet into his jammies.

“I don’t want theeeeeeeeeeeeeese,” Kurt sobbed.

Daddy walked in then. It sounded like Papa needed back-up. Handing Dave a glass of wine, Daddy grabbed Kurt’s foot. 

“Why don’t you go and relax,” he offered calmly. “I’ll finish getting the baby ready for bed.”

“I don’t wanna go to be-e-e-ed,” Kurt gasped through his sobs.

Papa didn’t respond, walking out to the living room. He hated his job, and he was sick of coming home to a crabby kid.

Daddy quickly and efficiently got Kurt into his pajamas. When Kurt tried to wiggle away, Blaine grabbed him by both arms and gave him a shake, “Knock. It. Off,” he said, enunciating clearly. “It is time for bed. Unless you want me to take the wooden spoon to your bottom, you need to stop now.”

Kurt went limp at that, crying. He was lonely and bored, all day long. Then, Daddy and Papa came home, and they were just mean to him.

“Thank you,” Daddy said. “You’re getting your bottle before bed. Would you like me to give it to you in here, or do you want to cuddle with Papa or I on the couch?”

“Papa on the couch,” Kurt mumbled.

Blaine nodded, “Okay baby. I think you need to apologize to Papa when you go out there. It wasn’t very nice to tell him that you didn’t like him.”

Kurt nodded, still hiccuping a little. When Daddy picked him up, he reached toward the bed, “Beau Bunny too,” he demanded.

Blaine grabbed the rabbit and handed it to Kurt, who hugged it tightly. Carrying Kurt on one hip, with the bottle in his free hand, he wandered out to the couch.

“Kurt has something he wants to say to you Papa,” Blaine said, allowing Kurt to slither down his hip.

Dave looked at Kurt, who was staring at his feet. “Sorry I was mean Papa,” he mumbled.

Holding out his arms, Dave gestured for Kurt to cuddle with him. “Thank you for apologizing baby,” he murmured, giving Kurt a kiss.

“Kurt was hoping that you would give him his bottle,” Blaine said, handing the formula to Papa.

“I would love to pumpkin,” Papa said, feeling slightly more relaxed and happier with a snuggly little boy. He helped Kurt to settle into a comfortable position, and they cuddled together on the couch while Daddy cooked dinner.

Kurt relaxed against Papa, drowsing as he had his bottle. He barely finished it before the cumulative effects of the Benadryl, tantrums, and spankings caused him to fall asleep.

Dave cautiously shifted Kurt up onto his shoulder, and then carefully tucked him into bed. Kurt whimpered and moved restlessly, arms reaching out for Papa.

Dave handed him Beau Bunny instead. With a final kiss to the forehead, he walked out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. Settled at the counter, he watched his other boyfriend put the finishing touches on dinner.

Blaine waited to start the discussion until they were eating. “You are working a lot Dave,” he said.

Dave sighed at that, “It’s not like I want to Blaine. But they’re laying people off.”

“Kurt would like it if you were home full-time,” Blaine smiled, teasing.

Dave snorted, “Yeah. He’d adore me being around all the time. I could make sure he’s actually napping and eating when he’s here during the day. We’d make it two weeks before we were at each other’s throats.”

“All I’m saying,” Blaine said, “Is that it wouldn’t be the worst thing. You’d find another job.”

“Well, hopefully it won’t come to that,” Dave said, clearly not interested in continuing the conversation. They lapsed into pensive silence then, eating dinner as both considered the possibility of a lay off. 

As much as Dave thought it would be a disaster, Blaine thought it might actually work. Kurt was having a harder time staying home alone all day, and the stop-gap measures they’d come up with (Kurt calling at lunch, making sure he got special time every day with one of them, etc.), were not cutting it. Something was going to have to change.


	2. When Papa Got Laid Off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave knew that it wouldn't last forever.

“Well, it happened,” Dave told them, slinging the strap of his messenger bag over a chair. “Hi baby,” he told Kurt, dropping a kiss on his head, then going to give Blaine a similar greeting.

Blaine looked up from where he was chopping vegetables, giving Dave a deeper kiss before he asked, “What’d they offer?”

“I have my insurance through the end of the month, and 4 weeks pay. And my boss wrote a reference letter.” Dave sat down on the stool next to Kurt, and grabbed a carrot stick off of the plate near Kurt.

He made a face, but he didn’t object to Papa eating his snack. Because Papa had a bad day. Kurt almost complained when Papa pulled him over onto his lap, but Blaine gave him a look, and he settled down into Papa’s arms, snuggling against him.

“Did you have a good day baby?” Papa asked him.

Kurt nodded, “Uh huh.”

“Wine?” Blaine asked him; he received an affirmative response from both men.

Blaine ignored Kurt, pouring two glasses and handing one to Dave. Ruffling Kurt’s hair, he asked him, “Would you like some juice or do you want milk?”

Making a face, Kurt told him, “Chocolate milk?” he knew that it hadn’t been offered, but he could still hope.

Blaine didn’t comment as he poured chocolate milk into a sippy cup and handed it to Kurt. Giving him a kiss, he returned to cutting up the broccoli. Smiling, he listened to Dave and Kurt talking to each other.

“What are you drawing pumpkin? Can I see it?”

Kurt pulled his coloring book and crayons over to show it to Papa. “Daddy buyed me a new coloring book.”

Blaine looked up at Dave, “We had a good day on Saturday while you were working; I figured he deserved a reward, but I didn’t have a chance to go to the store until today.”

Dave didn’t comment. Treats, or lack thereof, was an ongoing conversation between the two of them. It never failed that they disagreed about when and what constituted appropriate rewards for Kurt. 

Kurt interrupted his thoughts, “Papa, are you going to stay home with me until you find a new job?”

Dave hadn’t thought of that, but he nodded, “I guess so. I’ll start sending out my resume, but it’s going to be at least a month or two of me being at home with you pumpkin.”

Kurt bounced a little at that pronouncement, making Dave wince at the weight on his lap, “Can we bake cookies tomorrow?” he asked.

Kurt loved to bake cookies, and he’d been banned from using the oven without Daddy or Papa. Just because he got distracted one day and there was a very small fire. 

“Take the rest of the week off,” Blaine suggested. “You’ve been working crazy hours lately; there’s no reason you can’t take at least a few days to relax before you start looking for a new job.”

Dave kind of perked up at that. He’d been working so much that he hadn’t really had a chance to spend time with Kurt. Well, he had, but it was most often in a not-fun capacity. Kurt had gotten just a little bit frustrated about the lack of Papa’s attention, and he’d taken to being naughty when Dave was around just to guarantee some sort of response.

“Cookies tomorrow Papa?” Kurt asked again.

Hugging him tightly, Dave nodded, “I would love to bake cookies with you. That won’t take all day though. Do you want to go to the bookstore after?”

“Uh huh,” Kurt leaned against Papa, turning his head a little so he could give him a kiss. “It’ll be fun for you to be home with me Papa.”

That helped Dave perk up. It wasn’t like they hadn’t seen this coming, and they’d discussed it. Dave had been working progressively longer hours and spending less time with them. The company wasn’t doing well; they were going to lay people off. Privately, Blaine had started to hope that Dave would be one of the people they laid off.

Dave hated the job. The hours were long, and his boss was a dick. Dave felt like he never had enough time to spend with Blaine and Kurt. On the rare occasions that he actually got to take Saturday and Sunday off, they spent the time catching up on chores and running errands. 

Which put them all in bad moods. Before, Kurt had taken care of everything. It was one of the rougher transitions, having to worry about getting everything done without just expecting Kurt to do it. Especially because they had specifically prevented Kurt from doing a lot of the household stuff; Blaine felt like it sent mixed signals. 

So, all three of them worked all week, and then they spent their weekends bickering about grocery shopping and picking up the dry cleaning and whether the bathroom was clean enough to go another week. It was normal couple stuff, but then they had Kurt who was cranky about things not being done the way he wanted them done, and he hated being alone all week, but he also didn’t like having them there, breathing down his neck and making sure that he was following the rules.

Blaine had told Dave that he thought it might be better if one of them tried to be home more, but that really wasn’t possible with their jobs. Blaine was expected to put in a certain number of hours if he wanted to be promoted, and Dave’s boss had been clear about the consequences for leaving work at 5:00. He’d watched another man get fired for taking time off when his wife was going through chemo; trying to explain that he had to get home to boyfriend/little boy was not an option.

“Daddy?” Kurt was still in Dave’s lap, but he wanted down.

Blaine smiled at Kurt, “Yes?”

“I’m bored.”

“Well, we can’t have that,” Papa said, standing up and settling Kurt onto his hip. “What shall we do to entertain ourselves until Daddy’s done making us dinner?”

Legs wrapped around Papa’s waist, Kurt hugged him around the neck, “Ummmm,” he thought, “Will you play a game with me?”

Blaine turned around, not wanting to look at his boyfriends while Kurt conned Papa. Because whenever Kurt was vague about playing a game, it meant either Daddy or Papa (sometimes both) were going to look ridiculous. Blaine wondered how long it would take for Papa to figure that out.

“A game?”

“Uh huh. Pleeeeeease Papa? I wanna play a game.”

Dave looked at Blaine, “How long until dinner?”

“Half an hour. You two go play.”

Dave tipped Kurt upside down, tickling his tummy, “Is half an hour long enough to play a game baby? Or should we just snuggle for a little?”

“A game. I want a game,” Kurt said, giggling, “Cuddle later Papa.”

“Alright, a game,” carrying a still upside down Kurt to the hallway between the bedroom and the living room, Dave opened the cupboard with all the games. “What are we going to play pumpkin?”

Kurt struggled until he was right side up. Twisting, he pulled it out, “I want Pretty Pretty Princess Papa,” he said.

Dave groaned, but he took the box, “One time Kurt,” he warned. 

“No Papa, half an hour is enough for three games,” Kurt knew he was being optimistic, but he figured that Papa would compromise.

“Two.”

Kurt knew Papa. And half an hour was enough time to play two games. Plus, Kurt figured that Daddy would linger over making dinner if there was any chance of getting a picture of Papa wearing jewels.

“Wanna play in the kitchen Papa,” Kurt said.

Dave nodded, carrying Kurt back to the kitchen and setting the game up on the counter. “What color baby?”

“Emeralds,” Kurt said, focused on the game. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to win or not; he liked it when Papa had to wear the jewelry, but he liked wearing it too.

Blaine finished prepping dinner and slid it into the oven before settling in to watch them play. It amazed him how patient Dave could be with Kurt when he was like this. Not when the baby was acting like a brat, but when he wanted to play a game or watch a movie, Dave was eager make Kurt happy.

Papa played three rounds of Pretty Pretty Princess before Daddy finally put him out of his misery. They had a nice dinner together, and then they relaxed on the couch. Papa gave Kurt a bottle, and as he was drifting off to sleep, cuddled between Daddy and Papa, he thought happily of all the fun he was going to have with Papa while Daddy was at work. Maybe they could stay home together for a couple of weeks before Papa found a new job and left Kurt home alone all day.


	3. When Papa Looked for a Job

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurt's liking Papa being unemployed a lot more than Papa is.

Kurt loved Papa staying home! It was awesome! They baked cookies and went shopping. Papa would take Kurt to the little vintage shop that was always closed before Papa and Daddy got home. The shop that Daddy wouldn’t let Kurt go to by himself, but Papa loved to take Kurt to because that was where they’d met after high school. Papa let Kurt play with finger paint and play games, and they had so much fun together.

And when Kurt had to work, Papa spent time working on his resume and sending job applications in. He was enjoying his time with Kurt too, so it didn’t bother him when he didn’t get a response at first.

Blaine was happy because he got to come home to a clean condo with happy boyfriends. There was no running from errand to errand, and meals were generally done. 

Occasionally, Kurt would be a little pouty when he got home, upset about having to spend time on the naughty stool or because Papa had spanked him, but it was nothing like the way it had been before. If Papa wanted to be completely honest, he probably wasn’t being as strict as usual. It was like an extended vacation, and Papa figured it didn’t matter that much if Kurt was instantly obeying, or if he did little stuff that was technically against the rules.

After a few weeks though, without so much as a call back, Papa was starting to worry. He had to work, but he wasn’t getting any calls.

So, one night after Blaine got home from work, when Daddy had sent Kurt to bed early because he was being crabby, they sat on the couch and talked.

“I’m just not getting a response,” Dave said, embarrassed that he couldn’t find work.

Blaine sat up, putting his wine glass down. He wasn’t sure how this was going to go over, but he figured it had to be said. “What if you didn’t go back to work?” he asked carefully.

Dave looked at him as though he were crazy, “What do you mean didn’t go back to work? I have to go back to work.”

“Why?” 

“Because I have to? Because people work Blaine. Because we like living indoors and eating.”

Blaine held up his hands placatingly, “All I’m saying is that technically, we don’t need the third income. And things have been running so smoothly since you got laid off. It’s kind of nice.”

That actually made sense, but Dave still saw problems. “And what about insurance?”

“We buy a policy. I’ve been looking, and we can totally swing you staying home full-time. Between Kurt and I, we more than meet our bills. And if you get bored, you could always do some freelance work.”

“What do we tell people?” Dave couldn’t imagine trying to explain to people that he was staying home full-time now. It’s not like he could tell everyone that adult childcare had become an issue.

Blaine snorted then, “Um, you’re dating two men. One of whom is the guy you threatened to kill in high school. I’m pretty sure everyone gets that our relationship is maybe just a little bit unconventional.”

Dave relaxed, thinking. After a minute, he said, “Are you sure?”

“Look,” Blaine explained, “Our food bills have gone up since we started doing this with Kurt because we’re ordering in or eating out more often. We’re spending more time and money doing pretty much everything because the two of us work outside the home, and we’re not letting Kurt take care of everything. We can afford it; we’d probably be saving money.”

“I just don’t know how I feel about being a stay at home mom.”

Blaine gave him a look, “I realize that biology was never my strong suit, but I’m pretty sure that you wouldn’t be a mom. You’d just stay at home. Taking care of stuff. I wasn’t suggesting vaginoplasty. Because Kurt and I are gay, so we kind of prefer you with a penis.”

“You’re hilarious,” Dave said. Thinking, he finally asked, “What if I hate it?”

“Then you find a job. It’s not the end of the world. We try it. If it sucks, we try something else. But Kurt’s been happier since you got laid off. The house is clean, we’re eating, and he’s not being a brat every night because he’s tired and overwhelmed.”

Dave nodded, face pensive.

“Look,” Blaine told him, “I’m not saying we have to do this. You can keep looking for a job, or you can take a break, or whatever. I just don’t want you worrying about needing to have a job because we don’t need the money. And if you decide to stay home with Kurt, I think that would work really well.”

“I’ll think about it,” Dave finally said. It did sound like a good idea, and he was having fun staying home with Kurt all day.

He thought for several days, as he watched Kurt color and they cuddled together. Dave felt like he was changing his mind every 15 minutes. Sometimes, it seemed like a great idea. Others, he thought that Blaine was crazy.

The incident that helped him make a decision occurred three days after the discussion with Blaine. Daddy had left for work, and Kurt and Papa were in the kitchen, making pancakes.

“Was Daddy sad that he couldn’t have pancakes with us?” Kurt asked, watching the griddle intently.

Dave smiled, “I think Daddy was sad that he was going to be stuck at work all day.”

“Instead of at home with us having fun?”

Dave nodded, “Go ahead and flip them baby. Do you want maple syrup or jam for your pancakes.”

“Syrup. Is Daddy jealous?”

“Of what pumpkin?” Dave was half in the fridge, pulling out the syrup and more butter, along with some orange juice.

“Of all the fun we have without him.”

Dave didn’t know how to answer that, so he decided to dodge. “I don’t know. What do you think?”

“Uh huh. We get to have fun all day together, and he has to go to boring work.”

“Home is more fun than work,” Dave allowed, thinking.

“No Papa,” Kurt explained, holding the spatula in one hand as he turned to explain. He gestured as he talked, “Home is still boring when it’s just me. It’s fun now because you’re at home with me. So we get to play.”

Dave nodded absently; he should text Blaine and tell him that he’d finally made a decision.

Kurt watched him, worried. “Papa?”

“Hmm pumpkin?” Dave forced himself to look at Kurt and focus.

“You have fun with me?” he avoided eye contact, turning back to slide the pancakes onto a plate and pour more batter.

“I do,” Papa assured him.

“More fun than work?” Kurt tried to make himself sound nonchalant, but Dave knew better.

“Staying home with you is much more fun. We get to make pancake. That’s better than tax forms.”

Kurt nodded, smiling a little, and Dave reached for his phone. As he texted Blaine, he came behind Kurt so he could hug him.

“Do we have enough pancakes you think?” he’d wait until Blaine got home to talk about this with the baby.


	4. When Papa Found a Job

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Staying at home isn't quite the walk in the park that Dave thought it would be. Taking care of Kurt is a full time job.

Daddy and Papa telling Kurt that he wasn’t going to have to stay home alone anymore went over pretty well. Things went along smoothly, with Papa being more lax about rules than Daddy, for several weeks.

Then, Blaine started noticing problems. Kurt was refusing to eat what was served for dinner. He was arguing about bedtime. Nothing huge, he was just testing again. 

After watching for a while, Blaine realized something. Papa wasn’t really doing anything about the behavior. One night, after Kurt insisted that “my tummy is not hungry for broccoli Papa. It’s hungry for chocolate pudding,” Blaine sent him to the naughty spot and sat Dave down.

“You have to enforce the rules Dave. He’s spinning out.”

“I am,” Dave said defensively.

“He just refused to eat dinner and yelled at you to give him pudding instead. What part of that seems okay to you?”

“He’s in time out.”

Blaine sighed, “Yes. I sent him to time out. It’s not fair for me to come home and be the bad cop. And it’s not good for Kurt. Or for us. I’m not asking you to run a boot camp, but we have to be consistent.”

“Okay,” Dave said. 

“I’m going to let Kurt out of the naughty corner, and he’s going to come in here and eat. And I’m thinking no dessert or snacks tonight seems fair.”

“What if he gets hungry?” Dave asked, concerned.

“He can have vegetables if he gets hungry. You know that Dave; we don’t starve him. But he can’t live on chocolate pudding and mac and cheese.”

“Okay,” Dave agreed, not happy. 

“And tomorrow, you’re going to enforce the rules? Because it’s not fair that I have to come home and be like this.”

Dave sighed unhappily, “He’s just so sweet and happy with me. It’s nice.”

“It’s not nice,” Blaine corrected patiently. “He’s freaking out Dave. You saw him tonight; he yelled at you about pudding. He wants you to pull him up short. If you don’t, he’s just going to get worse.”

“I know,” Dave said.

“It’s just more fun if I have to be the bad guy?” Blaine offered.

Dave looked at him hopefully, “Don’t you like it?”

“Oh yeah. It’s awesome,” Blaine said sarcastically.

“If Kurt and I bake you cookies, would you be the bad guy?”

“You could offer me blowjobs for a month, and it’s not going to make me the bad guy. Papa has to be a hardass. At least some of the time.”

“Fine,” Dave said, with a heavy sigh. Blaine started to walk toward the living room to release Kurt, but Dave stopped him. “I should go,” he said unhappily. “I’m the one he sassed. He needs to apologize.”

“Okay,” Blaine said, watching him.

Dave walked to the corner. “Are you ready to behave pumpkin?” he asked.

“Daddy’s mean,” Kurt said. “I just wanted pudding Papa.”

“Do you need more time in the naughty spot to remind you of the rules?” Dave forced himself to ask.

“Paaaaapaaaaaaaa,” Kurt whined, twisting on the stool. “I wasn’t being naughty.”

Dave made his face stern, “You said you weren’t going to eat your veggies, and then you ordered me to get you pudding. Does that seem like nice behavior?”

“I didn’t order. And I eated some vegetables Papa. I was just ready for dessert.”

Dave nodded at that, “I guess you need some more time out. I’ll come back to talk to you in a little bit baby.”

“Papa,” Kurt said, “That’s not fair.”

Dave turned to walk away, “No talking in time out baby.”

“Ugh,” Kurt said, frustrated. He kicked the wall hard.

Papa had him off the stool and bent over it quickly. Landing several heavy slaps to Kurt’s bottom, he asked, “Is that little tantrum over Kurt Elizabeth, or do you need a spanking to remind you how Papa and Daddy feel about you kicking things?”

Kurt wailed at the feeling of Dave’s hand landing. It hurt! “You’re hurting me Papa,” he whimpered.

“Spankings hurt. Are you ready to behave yourself?”

“Yes,” Kurt cried.

Dave helped him stand up and then lifted him onto the stool. “You need to stay here until I come back. We’ll talk in a little bit about your naughty behavior.”

Kurt pouted at that, but he didn’t kick the wall this time. He squirmed through time out, and he was ready to behave when Papa came back.

“Are you going to come back and eat your dinner nicely for us now Kurt?” Papa asked him.

Kurt nodded, his chin a little wobbly now. Papa was acting weird. He’d let Kurt eat pudding instead of lunch today because that’s what he wanted. He’d eaten a banana too, but Papa let him have chocolate pudding.

“Alright then. What do you say?”

“Sorry for being naughty,” Kurt whispered.

“Thank you for the apology,” Dave murmured, hugging Kurt tightly. He helped Kurt down and went to lead him back into the kitchen, but he was stopped by Kurt holding his arms out to be carried.

When they got to the table, Kurt didn’t want to sit in his seat. Instead, he sat on Papa’s lap and let Dave feed him his dinner. 

“Now pudding Papa?” he asked, once all the yucky broccoli was gone.

Blaine stepped in then. He had been drying dishes, but he figured that Papa had been the mean parent for long enough that evening. “Tomorrow,” he said. “You can have pudding tomorrow after lunch if you eat everything.”

“But I want dessert!” Kurt protested, focusing on Papa. Dave was the weak link.

“And Daddy said?” Papa asked him. 

“No,” Kurt grumped, arms crossing over his chest and lip pushing out.

Blaine paused in what he was doing, “I think it might be time for little boys to take their baths and then go to bed,” he said calmly.

“I don’t need to go to bed,” Kurt whined.

Dave set him on his feet and sent him toward the bathroom with a swat, “I’ll take it,” he told Blaine.

“Thank you,” Blaine replied. He smiled as he listened to water running and the low rumble of Papa and Kurt talking. He was just finishing up cleaning the kitchen when he heard trouble.

“I don’t want to get out Papa,” Kurt said, loudly.

“Kurt, you’re getting pruny. It’s time to get out of the tub and get into jammies.”

With a sigh, Blaine began moving toward the bathroom. 

“I SAID NO!” Kurt shrieked.

Dave decided not to debate. Instead, he helped Kurt to stand up, one hand on his arm. “It’s time to be done with your bath now baby. You can take one tomorrow,” he promised.

Blaine had just gotten to the doorway of the bathroom when Kurt jerked away from Dave’s hand. Unfortunately, he had to use so much force to do that, that he just kept moving, slipping and crashing back into the tub.

Kurt was quiet for a moment, shocked. Then he wailed. Loudly. He’d fallen back into the full tub, but he’d still hit the bottom pretty hard, and it hurt.

Papa and Daddy were there, pulling him up and out of the tub before he could even take a breath. 

“What’s wrong? Where are you hurt? Show me,” Papa was telling him, running his hands over Kurt’s head.

Blaine had grabbed a towel and was wrapping it around Kurt, “Let’s get you dried off so we can take a look at your boo boos.” 

Kurt whimpered and cried, sore. Daddy was gentle as he dried Kurt off, and then he let Dave carry Kurt to the bed. “Let’s take a look at you,” Daddy told him. “Where did you hurt yourself?”

“My bottom,” Kurt sobbed. “And my elbow,” he held his elbow out for inspection. 

“That looks like a very sore elbow,” Papa said sympathetically. 

Blaine looked too. Kurt’s elbow looked red, but it wasn’t swelling at all. “I need you to roll over so I can take a look at your bottom baby,” he told Kurt.

Kurt reluctantly rolled onto his tummy, allowing Daddy to make sure that he was okay.

“Did you hit anywhere else?” Daddy asked him.

Kurt was starting to calm down, and he was realizing that Daddy might not be so happy with him for being naughty with Papa. 

Forcing himself to continue crying, he said, “No. But my bottom and my arm hu-ur-ur-urt.”

Blaine looked at Kurt for a minute. The crying had been tapering off, and now it was worse. Which meant that Kurt was probably doing better.

“I’m sure they do,” he said, voice matter of fact. “That’s what happens when you fall down. That’s why we’re careful in the bathroom.”

“Papa let me slip,” Kurt said, hoping that Papa felt guilty enough to back him up.

Papa didn’t have the chance, “You pulled away from him Kurt,” Blaine scolded. “That’s why you fell.”

Kurt looked down, knowing that he was caught. 

“I think that you need jammies on and lights out,” Daddy told him.

“It’s too early,” Kurt whined. There was no point to pretending to be hurt if Daddy wasn’t going to buy it.

“And you’ve been acting like a sleepy boy all evening,” Blaine responded, grabbing a sleeper and a diaper. Kurt balked at the diaper, but a swat to the back of his leg got him laying down.

“Owww Daddy,” he cried. “That hurts where I fell.”

“Then behave yourself so I don’t have to spank you Kurt,” Daddy said calmly.

“That’s not fair. You can’t spank me if I’ve got bruises.”

Dave stepped in, “We won’t spank you,” he agreed. “I’m sure that we can come up with different ways of punishing you.”

Kurt’s eyes widened at that. “Different Ways,” were not good. They always meant creativity, and although creativity had been prized before they began doing this, Kurt had learned to loathe it when it came to punishments. He allowed Blaine to finish dressing him, and then he was tucked in.

They both gave him kisses, and Kurt hung on to them tightly when they hugged. “I want Paddington tonight Papa,” Kurt said seriously.

Before Papa could answer him, Daddy did, “It’s time to sleep. I’m not going to spank you because you already slipped and fell, but I think early bed is a good plan.”

Kurt whined unhappily as Papa handed him Beau Bunny and his blanket, but they ignored it. Tucking him in tightly, Kurt was left in the semi-darkened room. Despite his objections, he fell asleep quickly, lulled by the quiet sounds of conversation from the living room.


	5. When Papa Stayed Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe Dave should just go back to work...

“What are we going to do today Papa?” Kurt asked. He was sitting at the kitchen counter, eating his breakfast, and he was glad that Daddy had left for work. Papa was way more fun when Daddy wasn’t there; last night, Papa had even swatted him, and Kurt barely even tapped the wall with his foot.

“How much work do you have?” Dave asked him.

Kurt shrugged, “I need to post something about fashion on a budget. So I probably need to check out a few websites before I write.”

Dave nodded, “Why don’t you go and do your work baby, and then we can have fun when you’re finished.”

Kurt nodded. Taking his final bite of oatmeal, he wandered into the study and sat at the computer. 

Several hours later, he stood up from the computer, stretching until he felt a few pops. Then he wandered out into the living room. Papa was sitting on the couch.

“All done pumpkin?” Papa asked him.

“Uh huh,” he replied, snuggling against Papa. Fingers slipping into his mouth, he relaxed.

“No no Kurt,” Papa told him, tugging at Kurt’s hand. “Do you want your paci?”

Kurt made a cranky face and shook his head no, trying to put his fingers back in his mouth, “I like fingers Papa.”

“I know, but Daddy does not like fingers. He likes pacis.”

Kurt sat up straight, making his saddest face at Papa, “Daddy’s not here Papa. I just want to cuddle with you, and when I cuddle, I like my fingers.”

“Kurt,” Papa lectured, “Even if Daddy’s not here, you still have to obey him. Making your cutest face does not change that.”

Kurt pouted at that, pulling away from Dave and glaring. 

Dave wanted to let it go. Happy snuggly Kurt was way more fun than pouty cranky diva Kurt. But Blaine would not like that. And unhappy Blaine was not fun either. Forcing himself to sound like Daddy, Dave said, “Crabby little boys need more sleep. Do you need a nap Kurt?”

Kurt’s eyes widened in shock. What had happened to Papa being a sucker? “No,” he insisted, “I’m not sleepy.”

“Alright. Then you need to show me that you’re not cranky.”

Kurt nodded, still unhappy.

“Are you ready for lunch?” Papa asked, deciding it was for the best to move along.

Kurt nodded, “Uh huh. Make me mac and cheese Papa.”

Dave looked at Kurt. He hadn’t realized how very lenient he had been, but demanding Kurt was not a good sign. 

“Not today,” he said slowly, running through what they had. “I think that today we’re going to have sandwiches.”

Kurt stared at Papa, “No. I want mac and cheese. And not the yucky veggie noodles that Daddy buyed because I KNOW that’s vegetables and it’s not nice to be tricky Papa.”

Dave stood up and walked into the kitchen, answering Kurt as he walked, “No. Not today. you’ve had way too much mac and cheese lately Kurt. It’s not good for you to eat it every day. We’ll have sandwiches today.”

“I don’t want stupid sandwiches,” Kurt said, standing up and following him.

Dave didn’t turn to look at him, “I understand, but that’s what’s for lunch. Would you like turkey or roast chicken?”

“The three cheese macaroni Papa,” Kurt said, sitting on his stool and staring at Papa. He needed to remember to do what Kurt told him to. That’s what made staying home with Papa fun. Daddy was the meany who made Kurt eat vegetable pasta. And broccoli. And all sorts of disgusting things that weren’t really meant to be eaten.

Daddy continued pulling stuff from the fridge, “Last chance to make your choice baby, and then Papa’s going to make it for you.”

“I made my choice,” Kurt said, more sass than common sense. “I want mac and cheese.”

“Two chicken sandwiches, coming up. We have that garlic hummus you like.”

Kurt got off the stool, walking around to stand between Papa and the counter so Dave couldn’t begin making lunch, “NO PAPA. I WANT MACARONI.” He stomped his foot for emphasis. 

Papa didn’t say anything as he bodily hoisted Kurt and turned him so that Kurt was bent over the counter, feet dangling. He smacked Kurt’s jean covered bottom several times before letting him down to the ground.

“You don’t yell at Papa, and you don’t tell the grown ups what to do Kurt Elizabeth. I think you need to go wait in time out until I come to get you.”

Kurt stared at him, eyes wide and betrayed, “You smacked me,” he wailed, both hands covering his bottom.

“You yelled at Papa and tried to be bossy, pumpkin. You know better. Now I’d like you to go to the naughty spot please.”

“NO!” Kurt yelled, backing away several feet, out of Dave’s range, and stomping his foot. “I DON’T NEED TIME OUT! WHY ARE YOU BEING SO MEAN TODAY?”

“Kurt,” Papa said, his voice that exaggerated calm that always preceded a spanking, “You can either walk to time out, or I’ll help you over there. But if I help you, then it’s going to be a spanking before time out, and then a nap after lunch. Your choice baby.”

Kurt glared at Papa, breathing hard. Making a decision, he melted and slid to the floor, “YOU’RE A MEAN PAPA AND I DON’T LIKE YOU AND YOU DON’T LISTEN AND IT’S NOT FAIR BECAUSE I JUST WANTED MACARONI AND WHY WON’T YOU JUST LISTEN TO MEEEEEEEEEEEE? DADDY WOULD LET ME HAVE MACARONI BECAUSE DADDY’S FUNNER THAN YOU AND I WISH-”

Dave had been staring at Kurt, horrified. This was a bit much, even for Kurt. He snapped out of it and jerked Kurt to his feet, interrupting his tirade.

Bending so that he was eye-to-eye with Kurt, Papa roared, “E-NOUGH.” 

Kurt stopped yelling, eyes filling with tears. Papa got mad, but he’d never seen him like this. 

Papa pointed toward the living room, “You will march yourself over to the naughty stool this instant young man. I do not want to hear so much as a peep out of you until I tell you that time out is over.”

Kurt stared at him, shocked. That didn’t go over well with Papa.

“I SAID NOW,” he pointed again and spun Kurt, landing a hard smack to his legs.

Kurt ran to the naughty spot, clambering up and staring straight ahead, hands in his lap. He made Papa really really mad.

Sitting in time out, biting his lip, Kurt listened to Papa moving around the kitchen. He managed to stay quiet at first, but the more he listened to Papa banging stuff, the more upset he got.

At first, he didn’t make any noise. It was just fat tears rolling down his cheeks. When he started crying, he tried to muffle the noise with his fist. Finally, he curled up on the stool, knees to his chest, and pushed his face against his legs. He was trying to cry quietly, but the sobs wracking his body were getting progressively louder.

And all of Dave’s self-righteous anger fled as he listened to the baby sob his eyes out, clearly trying to be quiet because Papa told him to. He swallowed guiltily, and then walked out to Kurt.

Standing behind him, Dave rubbed Kurt’s arms, “Okay baby. That’s enough. Calm down for Papa. Okay? Papa’s sorry he got mad and yelled.”

Kurt was twisting on the stool and clinging to Papa, sobbing hysterically into his shoulder, “Sor-ree Pa-paaaaaa” he gasped out. “Sorry I was bad. Lot sorry Papa. Don’t hate me.”

Dave’s jaw dropped, and he picked Kurt up, hugging him tightly. “I could never hate you Kurt. What would make you think that?”

Kurt just kept sobbing, rubbing his face against Papa, “Sorry I maked you so mad. Don’t hate me.”

“I don’t hate you baby. I couldn’t ever hate you; even when you’re really really naughty, I still love you. Papa messed up; it wasn’t nice to yell.”

Kurt didn’t respond to that, just rubbing his snotty face against Papa’s shoulder and crying so hard he was hiccuping. 

Dave walked back to the bedroom, grabbing Kurt’s blankie and Beau Bunny. Carrying them back out, he settled with Kurt in the overstuffed rocking chair. 

Rocking slowly, he patted Kurt’s bottom and sang softly, “Oooh I need your love baby/Guess you know it’s true/Hope you need my love baby/Just like I need you.”

Kurt continued crying, clinging so tightly to Dave that it kind of hurt. Papa kept rocking, singing quietly. When he finished the first song, Kurt was starting to quiet down. But when he stopped singing, Kurt got louder.

So Papa started a new song, “You’re just too good to be true/Can’t take my eyes off of you/You’d be like Heaven to touch/I wanna hold you so much.”

Kurt settled, cries tapering off as he listened to Papa singing. When Papa finished the song, he fell silent, just rocking and gently patting Kurt’s backside. Waiting.

Kurt was curled against Papa’s chest, and he slowly reached a hand up to Papa’s face. “My froat hurts, Papa,” he whispered.

Dave smiled at him, “Let’s get you some water. That should help.”

Kurt nodded, holding onto Papa so he could have a ride to the kitchen. Papa filled up one of the glass baby bottles that Kurt liked with ice water. Carrying the bottle and Kurt back out to the rocking chair, he cradled Kurt, covering him and Beau with the blanket, and he held the bottle for Kurt to drink.

When the water was gone, he asked, “How’s your throat now baby?”

“Still sore, but not so bad,” Kurt whispered. Now that Papa had helped his throat, he knew that meant they were going to have to talk about him being bad.

He decided it was better to just apologize. Maybe if he did, Papa wouldn’t spank him with the spoon. Kurt hated the spoon.

“Sorry I was bad, Papa,” Kurt whispered.

Papa rocked the chair, not looking at Kurt’s face. “You were not bad. I’m not thrilled with your behavior.”

“Sorry Papa.” Kurt didn’t know what else to say.

“What do you think we should about that tantrum baby?”

Kurt sniffled and shrugged, his hand moving up to his mouth. Papa didn’t say anything when he began sucking on his fingers.

Dave knew that Blaine would have spanked him. Kurt had been out of control, and Dave had told him that he’d get spanked if he didn’t listen and go to time out.

He watched as Kurt’s eyelashes fluttered. The baby was just sleepy. “We’re going to get you a bottle, and then we’ll cuddle in bed while you drink it. When that’s gone, then you’re going to take your nap. And I expect you to stay in bed until I come to get you. Understood?”

Kurt didn’t object, knowing that Papa was being way easier than Daddy would have been. Especially because Papa bothered to mix the strawberry and the vanilla Ensure because that was Kurt’s favorite.

They snuggled together in bed while Kurt drank his bottle. “Papa,” he said, drowsily.

“What pumpkin?”

“Sing me?” he mumbled around the nipple.

“Sing to you?”

Kurt nodded, and Papa sang to him for the second time that day. Kurt fell asleep while Papa was singing about the little horses, and Dave carefully slid his arm out from under Kurt.

Layering Kurt’s blanky underneath the covers, he left Beau next to Kurt and gave him a kiss.

“Sweet dreams pumpkin,” he murmured, leaving him in the semi-darkened room.

When Kurt woke up from his nap, he was fuzzy and confused. When he shifted, he realized, to his abject horror, that he had wet the bed. He’d never done that before.

Hugging Beau to his chest, Kurt started crying. He’d cried a lot today, but he couldn’t help himself. Curling onto his side, ashamed, he sobbed out his humiliation.

Dave had been cleaning, but he’d had an ear out for Kurt since he’d been put down for his nap. Rushing back to the room, he was concerned to see the baby crying.

“What’s wrong baby?” he asked, sitting on the bed.

Kurt pushed himself into Papa’s arms, hiding his face. 

“Did you have a bad dream?” Papa asked, rubbing his back.

Kurt shook his head no, “Wet Papa,” he whispered, face aflame.

“Wet?” Dave asked him, confused. That made Kurt cry even harder, and then Papa realized what had happened.

“No big deal baby. Everybody has accidents. You had a rough morning, and I should have made you go potty before your nap.”

Papa lifted Kurt out of the bed and carried him into the bathroom. Putting him down next to the tub, he smiled at him, “I’m just going to go grab the sheets pumpkin. Can you be a big boy for me and get undressed so Papa can give you a bath?”

Still crying, Kurt nodded, hands going to the waistband of his pants.

“You don’t need to cry baby. We’ll get you all fixed up. Good as new.”

Kurt nodded again, but he couldn’t stop. Dave decided to grab the sheets off the bed. He was dismayed to realize that Kurt had really wet the bed, straight through to the mattress. Deciding that was a problem for once he had Kurt out of the bath and engaged with a movie, he tossed the sheets into the washer, and then returned to the bathroom.

Running the water, he smiled at Kurt, “Shall we have bubbles baby? Or do you want a regular bath with your toys?”

Kurt shrugged, subdued, and Dave helped him into the tub. He decided to just do a regular bath. It was already close to 3:00; he could get Kurt all washed up for the night and put him into jammies.

Maybe comfort food for dinner would help too.

“What shall we eat for dinner baby?”

Kurt shrugged again, “Don’t know Papa.”

Dave got Kurt washed up, making sure that he was all clean. “Are you going to play in the tub for a little bit pumpkin?”

Kurt shook his head, and Dave helped him up and out. Drying Kurt, he carried the towel-wrapped boy out to the living room. He grabbed a diaper and a sleeper on his way.

Kurt didn’t bother to argue about the diaper or the footed sleeper. 

“What would you like to watch baby?”

“Only an hour of TV Papa; Daddy says the ‘merican pediatric ‘sociation say so,” Kurt said quietly. “And tonight’s Thursday, and Daddy likes Grey’s Anatomy. I wanna watch too.”

“You know what?” Papa asked him, “Just this one time, I’m going to let you watch something now, and we just won’t count the time.”

“Daddy wouldn’t like that,” Kurt whispered.

“Daddy would understand. We’ve had a rough day pumpkin. Do you want Beau to pick the movie for you?”

That got a little bit of a smile. Papa could be silly sometimes, with Beau. 

“I guess I have to go get him then,” Papa said, going to the bedroom to grab Kurt’s blanky and the stuffed rabbit.

Nodding, his head cocked to the side like he was listening, he pretended to have a conversation with Beau. 

“No. No, I know that Kurt likes that movie. Are you sure though?” He nodded again a few times, and then handed the bunny to Kurt.

“I like the movie Papa?” Kurt said, smiling, waiting.

“Beau says he wants to watch ‘Singin’ In the Rain.’”

Kurt nodded eagerly. “Will you watch with me Papa?” 

“I’m going to start the movie baby, then I have to do something. But I’ll come out to watch as soon as I’m done.”

Kurt hugged Beau to him, curling up to watch the movie, and Papa covered him up with his blanky. Turning on the DVD, Papa went out to the kitchen to grab a sippy cup full of juice and a plate with cheese, crackers, and grapes on it. Putting the plate in front of Kurt, he squatted down and brushed his bangs away from his eyes.

“I’ll be in the bedroom. You can call for me if you need me, but I’d like you to stay here, resting. Understand?”

“Uh huh Papa. I’ll be good.”

Dave smiled at him and gave him a kiss, “You couldn’t be anything else. Not even if you tried.”

Kurt smiled a little at that, and Papa went into the study. Grabbing his laptop, he did a quick google search. Then, gathering supplies, he went back to the bedroom and scrubbed the mattress. 

It didn’t take as long as he had thought it would. Once he finished, he tossed the sheets into the dryer, and then he went back out to Kurt.

“Will you cuddle with Papa?” he asked, sitting next to him.

Kurt wordlessly shifted, half-into his lap. Dave noticed that his fingers had slid into his mouth, but he didn’t have the heart to reprimand him. Instead, he wrapped the blanky around Kurt’s shoulder. Kurt watched the movie, and Papa watched Kurt. 

He was rubbing his blanky against his nose, and his free hand was rubbing at Beau’s ears. Dave played with Kurt’s hair, and they waited for Daddy to get home.

 

When Daddy got home from work, he was surprised to find Kurt and Papa, snuggled together on the couch. Kurt was in his jammies already, and Papa was reading him a story.

“Did you have a good day?” he asked, kissing them both.

Kurt didn’t answer, staring at the pages of the book in front of him. Dave smiled, “We were fine. We’ve just been reading.”

“I’m going to go change. What’s for dinner?” Blaine started off toward the bedroom.

Dave smiled at Kurt, “What would you like for dinner pumpkin? Do you know now?”

Kurt, who had been relaxing, was as tense now as he’d been when he first woke up. He shook his head no. “Are you going to tell Daddy?” he whispered, not making eye contact.

“Tell Daddy what baby?”

Kurt leaned into Papa, burying his face in Dave’s chest. “That I wet the bed,” he mumbled.

“Yes,” Papa said calmly. 

Kurt looked up at him, eyes filling with tears, “Please don’t Papa.”

“Baby, it’s not a big deal. It was an accident, and it was mostly Papa’s fault for not making sure that you used the potty before you napped. But we tell Daddy stuff; we don’t keep secrets.” 

It was a rule they made even before they were Daddy and Papa. With all three of them, they knew it was going to be easier for there to be jealousy and miscommunication. So they had agreed. No secrets. It wasn’t fair.

“Papa nooooo,” Kurt whimpered, pushing his face against Dave.

“Do you want to come with me when I tell him, or do you want to stay here? Or you can tell him if you’d like.” Dave offered a couple of options.

“Don’t Papa,” Kurt mumbled. “Embarrassed.” 

“I know pumpkin. Which idea is the least awful?” 

“You tell him. Now.” Kurt whispered. Looking up, he begged, “Tell Daddy no talking about it though? It won’t happen ‘gain.”

Dave kissed Kurt firmly, “I will tell him we discussed it. And if it happens again, then we clean up again. It’s not the end of the world. Are you going to stay here and look at your book?”

Kurt nodded, and Papa walked back into the bedroom. Blaine was just finishing changing from his suit into a pair of jeans.

“What’s going on?” Blaine asked.

Dave gestured toward the bed; he hadn’t had a chance to make it yet. “We had a rough morning. I sent him to take a nap without making sure he used the bathroom, and he was really tired. He ended up wetting the bed.”

Blaine looked up, “Seriously?”

“He doesn’t want to talk about it. I’ve washed the sheets and cleaned the mattress. He’s really embarrassed.”

“Okay,” Blaine said, “Do you need help making the bed?”

“That would be nice.” 

Grabbing the sheets from the dryer, they made the bed, and Dave filled Blaine in on the rest of their day.

“We had a rough time at lunch. He wanted mac and cheese, and I told him no. He ended up pitching a fit, and I yelled at him and sent him to time out.”

“What happened then?” Blaine was surprised; he hadn’t expected Papa to be back to being Papa so quickly.

“I cracked. He ended up sitting on the naughty stool, sobbing hysterically, and I cuddled with him and gave him a bottle before I put him down for a nap.”

“Long day then?” Maybe not back to full-strength mean Papa yet then.

“He was wet when he woke up, and he was just...it’s been a lot of crying today. I gave him his bath, and we watched ‘Singin’ in the Rain.’ And I told him it doesn’t count for his TV hours this week. I needed him occupied so I could clean up.”

“Papa?” Kurt was standing in the doorway, holding Beau Bunny.

“Hi baby. Are you getting hungry for dinner?” Dave asked him, putting the last pillow on the bed.

Kurt nodded, and Dave scooped him up. “And what is your tummy hungry for pumpkin?” He tickled said tummy.

Kurt shrieked, trying to pull away, “Don’t tickle. Papaaaaaa,” he squirmed.

“Sorry baby,” Papa said, not sounding very sorry at all. “What would you like for dinner pumpkin?”

“Please can we have grilled cheese?” Kurt asked. 

Daddy asked, “Will you eat tomato soup too? Because your tummy may want grilled cheese, but you need some vegetables too.”

“How much soup?” Kurt said, getting ready to bargain. Dave carried him into the kitchen as he continued his discussion with Daddy.

Once they’d reached a consensus ( 1/2 cup of soup for every ½ sandwich Kurt ate. And he had to eat some grapes too), Papa began putting dinner together. After the third ‘suggestion’ from Blaine, he shooed them both out of the kitchen.

“Kurt, I need you to entertain Daddy. Because he’s driving me crazy. And,” he leaned forward to whisper, “If we let him, he’s going to ruin dinner by making me use olive oil and whole wheat bread. And that is not how you make grilled cheese. Can you be my big helper?”

Kurt nodded solemnly. “Come on Daddy,” he said, pulling on Blaine’s hand, “You come play with me now.” He stopped, looking at Blaine, “That’s not bossing Daddy; you can’t spank me for it. Papa telled me to. I’m helping. Not being bossy.”

“Of course not. You can’t even imagine telling me what to do, huh baby?” Blaine asked, picking Kurt up and tickling him.

Kurt giggled, curling up to protect his tummy and shaking his head, “Imma good boy Daddy.”

Dave shot a look at Blaine then, mouthing, “Second time today.”

Blaine tossed Kurt over his shoulder, “Papa, have you seen where Kurt is?” he asked.

Kurt giggled a little, covering his mouth with both hands.

“I can’t find him. He was just here a minute ago.” Blaine began spinning in circles, trying to find Kurt.

“You lost him?” Papa asked, going along.

“He disappeared,” Daddy agreed sadly.

Kurt couldn’t stop laughing, and he finally started poking Daddy, “Putme down Daddy.”

“I hear him, but I can’t see him.”

“Papa. Make Daddy put me down,” Kurt said. He was starting to feel a little nauseous from all the spinning.

“Oh,” Blaine said, bending so he could put Kurt on his feet, “There you are. Are we going to go play now?”

Kurt nodded, “I wanna play with my castle Daddy.”

They wandered out into the living room to play, while Dave made sandwiches and heated up the soup. Just as he called Kurt and Blaine for dinner, his phone rang.

Kurt listened to Papa talking, a worried expression on his face, and his lower lip pulled in between his teeth.

“No, I sent my resume.”

“I was very interested,” Papa paused, listening to someone talking.

“I appreciate the offer, but I’m no longer looking for a job.

Kurt gave a little sigh of relief at that, and turned to grab his sippy cup. Then, he heard Papa say something else, “No. That’s a very generous offer.”

Kurt leaned against Daddy, watching Papa. If Papa wanted to go and work again, then he should. It would selfish for Kurt to make Papa stay home with him. Especially because Kurt had been so naughty today.

Turning to Daddy, Kurt whispered, “It’s a good job.”

Blaine ran his fingers through Kurt’s hair, “Sounds like,” he whispered back.

Dave snapped at Kurt, and gestured for him to come over. Kurt slowly plodded across the kitchen to lean against Papa.

“It’s okay Papa. I can stay home by myself,” he said quietly.

Papa cupped his hand over the mouthpiece of the phone, “I know you can baby. You’re a very big boy.”

Kurt pressed his face against Papa. He didn’t want Papa to see that he was sad. Because it was good that someone wanted to hire Papa; Dave liked to work. And it sounded like they had offered even more money than he had been expecting.

Kurt would be okay by himself. He knew it. It was just boring and lonely at home, but he could handle it.

But just because he could handle it didn’t mean that he was happy about it. So he would just cuddle with Papa a little bit. Because when Papa went back to work, there wouldn’t be daytime cuddles anymore.

Dave absent-mindedly stroked Kurt’s back as he finished talking to the person on the other line. When he hung up, he smiled at Blaine.

“It’s an extra ten grand a year. Plus partner benefits.”

Daddy had been watching Kurt, and he nodded toward him. When Papa looked down, Kurt forced himself to stop pressing his face against him. Looking up, he smiled.

“That’s good Papa,” he said, trying to sound as convincing as possible. “When do you start?”

“Not till next week,” Papa assured him. “So, what should we do for fun until then?”

Kurt forced himself to engage in conversation, discussing what he wanted to do. By all outward appearances, he stayed light and calm throughout the evening. By the time they went to bed, Daddy started thinking that he had been worried about nothing. 

Daddy and Papa fell asleep pretty easily. Kurt did not. Curled between the two of them, he started thinking. 

Papa was going to go to work, and then Kurt would stay home by himself. And that was okay because Kurt was really not a baby; he was a big boy. He could behave and take good care of himself.


	6. When Papa Went Back to Work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurt is having some trouble adapting to being home alone again.

The time between Papa getting offered the job and starting the job went altogether too fast for Kurt. It felt like he had just been told that Papa had been offered a job, and then Papa was leaving for work.

The first morning, Kurt got himself up and dressed with Daddy and Papa. He ate his breakfast with them, and then he worked at his computer. When it was time for lunch, he stopped and ate. 

Then he went back and worked. When Daddy and Papa got home, he was laying on the couch, resting, with a book. He gave them both a kiss, and then he snuggled with Daddy for a little bit.

“What did you do today baby?”

“Wrote,” Kurt said. He was nestled in between Daddy’s legs, back to his chest, sprawled on the couch. “And had my lunch. And then had quiet rest because I’m s’posed to have quiet rest even though it’s boring.”

“That’s my good boy,” Daddy praised.

“I’m good,” Kurt said, sounding more like he was reassuring himself than anything. “Did Papa have a good day at work?”

Dave came out of the bedroom then, out of his work clothes, “I did,” he said. “But I missed you lots and lots pumpkin. Will you cuddle with me?”

Kurt nodded, and they snuggled together. 

“I think,” Daddy started, “That we should order pizza. Because I don’t want to cook.”

Kurt didn’t say anything. He was just happy they were both home. Snuggling closer to Papa, he hugged Beau and listened as Daddy ordered the pizza and then Daddy and Papa talked about their days.

They asked him questions, but he didn’t want to answer. He was comfy, and he didn’t want to think about his long, scary day without anybody else. But he couldn’t tell Papa or Daddy that because then Papa would be sad, and he liked his new job.

So he ate pizza with them, and took his bath, and resolved to be the best little boy on Earth so that Papa could go to work and not worry. 

On the second day, he got up and out of bed again. And everything proceeded pretty well until he was supposed to stop for lunch. Because then, he was working on something. But he stopped and ate lunch eventually. Just an hour later than he was supposed to.

And the next day, he decided to skip quiet rest time. Because it wasn’t really necessary. And that went okay, so he decided to just give it up. 

That left him so much more time to do fun stuff that Daddy and Papa didn’t let him do. And once he realized that quiet rest time was really not that important, he figured that maybe he could do other fun stuff during the day.

Like go shopping. Or watch television. Or lots of other grown up stuff that Daddy and Papa didn’t let him do without help because they thought he was a baby. But he wasn’t a baby. He was a big boy. He stayed home all day by himself.

Daddy and Papa started noticing the cracks the second week in. They didn’t realize what they were, but Kurt was starting to misbehave. Nothing major. He was just a little testier than he had been. He snapped at them, or took a little bit longer to do what he was told.

It all came to a head on Wednesday the third week after Papa got his job. Daddy had to work late, and Papa came home to Kurt, lounging on the couch, watching a Law and Order marathon.

He picked up the remote and clicked the television off. Papa didn’t want to start a fight; Kurt knew that Law and Order was not for babies because it was too bloody, and he had nightmares from it.

“I was watching that,” Kurt complained, sitting up.

Papa gave him a look, “I think that’s enough TV for the day Kurt. Come help me make dinner.”

“No,” Kurt said, using the tone of voice that Papa and Daddy didn’t like.

Papa squatted down, “Kurt, do you need to think about things? Because you can go have quiet time on the bed if you need some time to think.”

“I don’t need time to think,” Kurt said, making a face.

“Are you sure? Because I don’t like your attitude right now; if you go and think, then maybe you’ll make good choices about how you want to spend the evening.”

“I do NOT have a bad attitude,” Kurt said. 

“I’d like you to go and spend some time thinking in the bedroom,” Papa stood up, offering his hand, “Come on. You’re going to lay down for a little while and think about what you want to have happen tonight.”

Kurt took Papa’s hand, pout firmly on his face, and walked to the bedroom. He lay on the bed, arms crossed across his chest and crossed his ankles. “There,” he said. “Are you happy?”

“Ecstatic,” Papa said dryly, grabbing Beau Bunny and Kurt’s blanket. 

“Papa,” Kurt said, sitting up. “I need Beau Bunny!”

“Not while you’re thinking.”

“How long do I have to think?” Kurt asked.

“Until I tell you to get up. I’ll be in the kitchen. You can yell if you need me.” With that, Papa walked out of the room, still holding Beau Bunny and the blanket.

Kurt flopped backwards, unhappy. Papa was not being fair. And he was going to go to the kitchen and tell him that. Because Kurt was not afraid of Papa.

Getting off the bed, he padded on bare feet, down the hallway, and through the living room, and into the kitchen. Papa was focused on the sink, and he didn’t realize Kurt had gotten up until Kurt pulled out his stool and sat.

Turning around, he looked at Kurt, shocked. “What are you doing?”

“We need to talk Papa,” Kurt said seriously. 

“And we will,” Papa said, “But first you need to march your butt back into the bedroom where I told you to stay. Or we’re going to be having a discussion that you don’t want to have with me Kurt Elizabeth.”

Kurt remained calm, hands clasped on the counter, “I don’t need to have quiet time to think Papa.”

“Really?” Dave said skeptically, “That’s what you came up with while you were in there?”

“I didn’t have an attitude. I was just watching television.”

Papa put his hands on the counter, leaning so he was eye level with Kurt, “Last chance pumpkin. Go back to the bedroom and stay on the bed until I tell you otherwise, or you are going to be a very unhappy little boy.”

Okay. Maybe Kurt was a little afraid of Papa. Who was being completely unreasonable and just unfair. But that was an argument to raise with him later.

He lay back down on the bed, finally curling on his side and tracing patterns on the duvet with his finger. Because ‘time alone to think’ really meant ‘go be bored because you have the world’s meanest Papa Kurt’. 

When Papa finally came to release him, after about a million years, Kurt was still upset. Because he didn’t have an attitude. Papa just needed to understand that Kurt was a big boy, and he didn’t need to have someone else saying, “No television Kurt.” Because he wasn’t a baby.

But Papa wouldn’t listen. So Kurt sat, listening to Papa talk about having a good attitude and behaving himself. And he forced himself to nod and pretend like he thought Papa was right. Even though Papa was wrong wrong wrong wrong.

Finally, at the end of a lecture that took forever, Papa asked, “Are you ready to behave?”

“Yes sir,” he said. Because there’s only ever one answer to that question.

“What do you say?”

Kurt sighed heavily, “Sorry Papa.”

Dave decided to ignore the sigh. “What are you going to do until it’s time for dinner?”

Kurt shrugged. He wasn’t supposed to shrug or sigh, but apparently Papa didn’t care tonight. Because now he worked all the time, and he was too busy to take care of Kurt. And he didn’t want Kurt to help with dinner either.

“You could play with your castle,” Dave started, thinking of options for Kurt.

He didn’t want to wait, “I’m going to go play,” he said, climbing off of Papa’s lap. He wandered into the living room, waiting for Dave to follow. Because it’s not nice to interrupt or to leave when people are talking to you.

And Papa did follow him into the living room, but then he went into the kitchen. Kurt needed some time; he was having a bad day. So Papa wanted to give him some space.

When Kurt realized that Papa was going to ignore him, he decided to do something. He didn’t like being ignored, and he was going to teach Papa a lesson. 

But in order to do something, he had to get his art supplies. Which were in the kitchen. And that meant that Kurt had to be good so Papa would let him have his art supplies.

Standing up, he wandered out to the kitchen. “Papa?” he asked, affecting his sweetest tone.

“What do you need?” Papa was relieved that he was in a better mood. Especially because he had to fix dinner before Daddy got home, and a cranky Kurt was more of a hindrence than a help.

“Please may I have my art box?” Kurt asked. Papa didn’t even want him in there. He could tell; Dave wasn’t even looking at him.

Papa stopped to look at Kurt then, “Daddy likes it when you do your art in the kitchen,” he pointed out.

Kurt nodded, “I know Papa, but I need to do big art, and there’s not enough space in the kitchen because you’re cooking.”

“Alright,” Dave reluctantly agreed. It seemed like a better idea to keep Kurt where he could see him, but if he needed space, then it would be okay. Plus, Kurt was using his nice manners now, so he must have gotten over his bad attitude.

Kurt smiled sweetly, “Thank you Papa.” He tried to take the bin, but it was too big. Because maybe Papa and Daddy had gone a little bit overboard with art supplies because they made Kurt happy, and he insisted that it was completely necessary to have the big, telescoping tower of crayons, and the special retired crayon colors, and the skinny markers, and the fat markers, and the glitter crayons, and three different kinds of paper. Plus little glitter and big glitter and glitter glue.

Dave took the big box of art stuff out to the living room and put it on the floor. He gave Kurt a look, and Kurt remembered, “Thank you Papa,” he said again.

Dave smiled at him, “You’re welcome. Don’t make a mess pumpkin,” he ruffled Kurt’s hair before he went back to the kitchen to work, and Kurt glared at the door.

Because he hated hair ruffles. And he hated being told to not make a mess. Because nobody ever intentionally makes a mess. It’s a silly thing to say. Like, “Don’t fall.” 

Shaking his head, he decides to get down to work. Slowly, he opened Papa’s bag and pulled out some files. Spreading them out on the table, he began to read.

He abandoned that plan after a few minutes. Because there was a lot of big, boring, math-y words, and he didn’t know what they all meant. And besides, his art was big. And that meant lots of papers.

He decided to lay them on the floor. Once he had them arranged the way he wanted, he began using tape to make it into one giant piece of paper. Then, he began to color. 

Great, sweeping strokes of primary colors. Which he followed up with some secondary colors for variety. Then, he covered the entirety of it in swirls and spirals of glue so he could add his glitter.

He had to use all of his glitter, but it was worth it. When he sat back to look at his masterpiece, he liked it. 

But, it was a little incomplete. It was missing a certain something. Kurt considered his art supplies for a minute. Digging through the bin, he found some abandoned feathers. They’d used them when they made Thanksgiving decorations. Except Papa and Daddy were boring and used fall colors. So Kurt had lots of the pretty colors left.

The feathers were carefully arranged in a giant heart, and then glued down. There. Kurt was done. He began to tidy away his supplies. Papa said not to make a mess.

Once that was accomplished, he gingerly touched the picture. It was really best if the glue was dry before Papa saw. Because wet glue got drippy, and that would ruin his art. Sitting down, he waited for a while, until he was pretty sure that the art could be moved.

Then, he was ready.

“Papa!” he called. “Come see my project!”

“In a minute Kurtie,” Papa called, which made Kurt growl. He hated Kurtie.

“No Papa,” he insisted. “Now. I made it for you, and I want you to see it. Pleeeeeeease?”

Sighing, Dave wiped his hands on the dish towel. He’d brought home paperwork to do, and Blaine still wasn’t home. And he loved the baby, but he really needed to finish dinner so he could feed Kurt and then start on his work.

Walking out to the living room, he tried to smile at Kurt, “Baby, Papa’s really busy, so I can-” he stopped, horrified.

Kurt smiled at him, smugly. “See Papa? I maked you beautiful art. To celebrate your new job that’s so important.”

Luckily, at that moment, Daddy walked in. Seeing the expression of absolute fury on Papa’s face, Daddy calmly took Dave’s arm and steered him into the kitchen.

“He- he- did you?” Papa couldn’t finish a sentence.

Daddy quickly poured a glass of water and handed it to him, “Drink. Then tell me.”

Kurt wandered into the kitchen, glaring at them. “Don’t you like my art?” he asked.

“Kurt,” Daddy said, turning. He didn’t know what had happened, but he knew it wasn’t good, “You need to go and sit on the naughty stool for me please.”

“Why?” Kurt complained, “I didn’t even do anything.”

Papa had calmed down enough to look at Kurt without screaming, but his face was still very scary. It only took one look before Kurt took off running, both hands covering his butt. He climbed up onto the naughty stool and sat staring at the wall.

The naughty stool was bad, but at least it made his butt slightly less accessible. Kurt would lock himself in the bathroom, but that would be ridiculous.

And also useless. Because then Papa would just take the door off the hinges. And Kurt would get spanked for being naughty in the first place. And then another one for running away when he was going to get spanked. And then another one for locking the door because, “We don’t lock doors Kurt Elizabeth.” Not that Kurt had tried that or anything.

Papa and Daddy were talking in the kitchen, but they were talking too low for Kurt to hear. Even when he strained.

Daddy was trying to get Papa to calm down, but it wasn’t working. Now that Papa was able to explain what had happened, he was making all sorts of crazy threats about “spanking Kurt until he couldn’t sit down.” Which was not something that they would do, but it was still good that Kurt couldn’t hear it.

“I had work to do Blaine,” Dave said, frustrated that Blaine couldn’t see how serious this was.

Blaine nodded, “I understand that. But you need to calm down before you punish him.”

“I can’t even-Blaine, that has got to be the most deliberately bad thing he has ever done. He went into my bag, which he is NOT allowed to do. He got out my work papers, and he destroyed them. He needs a spanking.”

“I’m not disagreeing. I’m saying that you either need to wait until you’re calm, or you need to have me do it.”

“I want to do it,” Dave insisted.

That’s when Blaine decided to put his foot down, “No,” he said. “I’m going to. You can be there if you want, but you’re way too upset. He shouldn’t have done it, and he’ll get a spanking. But you’re angry at him right now, and you can’t punish him like this.”

Dave made a face, but he handed Blaine the bamboo spatula that Kurt hated. “Fine,” he said. 

“You coming too? Or do you want to stay in here until you’re calmer?”

“No,” Dave said, turning back to dinner, “You handle it.”

Blaine went out to the living room, spatula in hand, and walked to the naughty stool. Tapping Kurt on the shoulder, he stepped back and folded his arms across his chest.

“Care to tell me about your masterpiece?”

Kurt started to defend himself, “I was making something nice-”

Blaine cut him off, “Kurt, you are getting a spanking. If you want to sit there and pretend you don’t understand why, I’m going to spank you at bedtime for being a fibber. Would you like to start again?”

Kurt huffed angrily, “Papa was ignoring me.”

Blaine stared at him, “You’re telling me,” he said slowly, “That you went into Papa’s bag and got out his important papers because you weren’t getting enough attention?”

“Uh huh,” Kurt said resolutely. He had known when he did this where it would lead. And he knew he would be sad about it. But now Papa was sad too. And that made it better.

Blaine gripped Kurt’s arm, pulling him off the stool. Walking to the couch, he sat down and began undressing Kurt.

“Daddy? Why you taking off my shirt?” Kurt asked.

“Because when we’re done here, you’re getting your bath, and then it’s time for bed,” Blaine replied.

“That’s not fair!” Kurt complained. “It’s only 7:30. Bedtime’s at 11:00.”

“Kurt, if I were you, I’d be thanking me for putting you to bed early. Because that’s the only thing you’re going to want to do when I’m done here.”

Kurt stopped fighting at that, letting Daddy take off his shirt and then his pants and underwear. When Daddy pulled him down across his knee, Kurt asked, “Where’s Papa?”

“He’s making dinner,” Blaine replied. 

He didn’t bother to say anything else, instead spanking Kurt. Crisp, hard, smacks, with just his hand. He didn’t waste much time warming Kurt up before he switched to the spatula.

Kurt howled. He hated the bamboo spatula. It was bigger and hurtier than the wooden spatula, and he almost never got spanked with it. And Papa was in the kitchen and he didn’t even care that the bamboo spatula hurt because Papa had more important things to do now.

Daddy was unhappy. He spanked Kurt until Kurt was wailing non-stop, and then he began asking questions.

“What would possess you to do that Kurt Elizabeth Hummel?”

Kurt cried, flailing wildly, “I was mad,” he shrieked.

“You were mad?” Daddy asked, sounding incredulous, “You were mad, so you decided to go through Papa’s personal things and then ruin something? Why would you think that’s okay? Papa’s very unhappy with you right now Kurt, should he ruin something of yours? Maybe that Hermes scarf we bought you last year?”

Kurt didn’t answer that, just crying. There wasn’t an answer. He didn’t want to talk with Daddy about how Papa just came home and worked now instead of playing with Kurt, and how Kurt had to be a grown up all day long and neither of them appreciated that at all.

And Daddy tried to get Kurt to change his mind. He spanked a lot, and Kurt was feeling it. He didn’t care though because getting spanked was better than getting ignored.

Finally, after Kurt was all collapsed and hysterical, Daddy stopped. He’d asked repeatedly for Kurt to explain why he ruined Papa’s work, but Kurt stubbornly insisted that he was just mad.

So, Daddy put Kurt on his feet, and then put the spatula down. He didn’t wait for Kurt to stop crying before he walked them into the bathroom and began running the bath. He simply held out his hand and helped Kurt step into the warm water.

And when Kurt hissed at the feeling of the warmth against his scorched bottom, Daddy didn’t even offer any sympathy. He washed Kurt’s hair fast, not even using the shampoo that Kurt wanted, and then scrubbed down his body. 

With that accomplished, Daddy hustled Kurt out of the tub, into a diaper and jammies, and into bed. Then, sitting on the side of the bed, he finally began to talk.

“I was very disappointed today Kurt,” Daddy started.

Kurt, down to just sniffles and hiccups, nodded.

“You are going to apologize to Papa, and you are going to be doing something nice for him to make up for this.”

Kurt nodded at that.

“Now, I want you to lay here, quietly, with your eyes closed. I don’t want to hear anything. Do you understand?”

Kurt nodded again, but he had to ask. “Is Papa going to...” he trailed off.

Blaine brushed Kurt’s hair away from his forehead, “Is Papa going to what?” he prompted, his voice a little gentler now because Kurt sounded so pathetic.

Kurt slipped his fingers up to his mouth, jerking them away guiltily at the last minute. “Do I ‘pologize now or tomorrow?” he asked.

“Why don’t you wait here? I’m going to go and talk to Papa, and then one of us will be back in.”

Kurt nodded, trying not to start crying again, and Blaine went to the kitchen to get Papa. Who was still sulking and did not want to see Kurt.

So Daddy filled a bottle with formula, because even if Kurt didn’t eat with them, he still had to eat, and then he went to the bedroom and sat with Kurt while he drank his bottle.

And when that was gone, he curled up in a ball. Daddy gave him a kiss good night and tucked him in. Turning off the light, he went back to the bed.

“Do you want a song baby?” he asked. He knew Kurt probably didn’t deserve his whole special good night ritual, but he couldn’t bring himself to take away bedtime stories and his special song.

Kurt shook his head no. “It’s okay Daddy,” he said. Now that he’d been bad, he felt kind of guilty. And he didn’t deserve his song. 

“Where’s Beau? And your blanket?” Blaine realized that he hadn’t tucked them into bed with Kurt.

Kurt shrugged, “I dunno. Papa took them away when I had to have quiet time to think.” Because I was bad, he silently added to himself. He was bad, and now Papa was really mad, and he probably wouldn’t want to see Kurt after work or ever. Because Papa got mad and spanked, but he always cuddled lot and lots after because he didn’t like Kurt being sad. 

The cuddles didn’t normally make up for the spanking because spankings really hurt and there was normally a better way for Kurt to get cuddles.

Except now, Papa worked, and he was busy, and he didn’t want to cuddle with Kurt anymore because Kurt was a bad baby who stayed home all day while Papa and Daddy went to go and do important grown up things. Papa was too busy. And Daddy tried to cuddle, but sometimes Kurt NEEDED Papa cuddles because Dave was just so big that he made Kurt feel safe when he was feeling too much and out of control.

Kurt really wanted Papa cuddles. But, Papa went back to work because that was better than staying home with Kurt. He liked it better than staying home with Kurt. 

He liked work so much, that he was really Really REALLY mad at Kurt now, and he wouldn’t even come in to give him kisses good night or check under the bed for the scary monster or read him stories. Papa probably hoped that he would get eaten by the scary monster because Kurt was so bad.

That was the thought that pushed him over the edge, and Kurt started crying again. His pillow got wet from all the tears, and he tried to cover up his mouth because Daddy said he didn’t want to hear noises.

But Kurt couldn’t help it. The under the bed monster was going to eat him up, and Papa didn’t even care a tiny little bit. So he cried louder and louder and louder in the dark, miserable, until the door opened, letting in some light from the hallway.

“Kurt?” 

He tried to stop crying when he heard Daddy’s voice. Because Daddy had said he needed to be quiet and go to sleep. And if Daddy saw that Kurt was still being bad after that spanking, then he would understand why Papa couldn’t love him no more. 

It was no use. Trying to stop crying just made him cry harder, and then he was choking because there was too much crying, and he inhaled.

“Baby,” Daddy was on the bed, pulling Kurt up and into his lap and rocking. “Just breathe for me baby. It’s okay. You’re fine.”

Kurt shook his head no, crying harder. He wasn’t fine. He was bad. He was the baddest baby ever, and now Papa hated him, and Daddy was being nice but it was only because Blaine wanted to let him down slowly. They were probably going to pack their suitcases and leave Kurt all alone in the apartment while they went off to be grown ups together.

And Kurt wasn’t ‘llowed to do the laundry or climb on the counters to get stuff or use the stove. So he was going to be dirty and hungry. Kurt figured he shouldn’t worry about that though because without Daddy and Papa to check for the under the bed monster, he was going to get eaten up.

“It’s okay,” Daddy said, rocking a little. “I found Beau Bunny and your blanket. I thought you might need them.”

Kurt wanted to push them away because he didn’t deserve the toys. Toys were for good babies. But, if Daddy and Papa were going to abandon him, maybe they would leave Beau too. And then he could cuddle with his bunny so he wasn’t entirely alone. And Beau could keep him company in the monster’s tummy.

“Kurt, stop,” Daddy said. “You’re going to make yourself sick.” He rubbed Kurt’s back firmly. “Everything’s fine.”

Kurt finally managed to gasp out, “Pa-pa hates meeeeeee,” around his sobs.

“What?” Blaine sounded shocked. “No baby,” he reassured. “Papa doesn’t hate you. Papa loves you so much. He was just mad about what you did. That doesn’t mean he hates you now.”

“Yes,” Kurt cried, burying his face against Beau’s tummy. It wasn’t as good as wiping his tears and snot away with Daddy’s shirt, especially because Daddy was wearing an ugly shirt, but Kurt needed to get used to having to use Beau.

“Kurt, stop,” Daddy sounded very stern now, and Kurt gulped down his sobs. 

“Papa does not hate you,” Daddy said, once he was sure that Kurt was no longer crying so hard he couldn’t listen. “Papa loves you. I love you. Just because you do something naughty, that doesn’t mean we don’t love you any more.”

Kurt shook his head sadly at that, “Papa don’t. I maked him really really really mad Daddy. He wouldn’t even say good night or give me cuddles, and Papa always gives me good night cuddles.”

“Are you hungry?” Kurt furrowed his brow at the non-sequiter. He shrugged.

“Are you? Or did your bottle fill you up?”

Kurt thought for a moment. He should probably eat now before they left. That way he wouldn’t get hungry as fast. “Uh huh,” he finally said.

“That’s good. You wanna know a secret?”

Kurt bit his lip, and then nodded.

“Papa hid ice cream, but I know where it is. Do you and Beau want to eat some ice cream?”

“No ice cream in bed unless you’re sick though Daddy,” Kurt reminded.

“No. No ice cream in bed. You can come out to the living room.”

“I’m s’posed to be sleeping.”

Daddy nodded at that, shifting Kurt off of his lap. Then, standing up, he pulled Kurt up and onto his hip. “Don’t forget Beau baby. Do you need your blanky too?”

Kurt nodded, still not sure of what was going on. Because he was supposed to be in deep trouble, but ice cream was not deep trouble. Resting his head against Daddy’s shoulder, Kurt resolved to enjoy this. Whatever was going on, he should take advantage of it.

Daddy carried Kurt into the living room, where Papa was seated on the couch, drinking a beer. When he saw Kurt, he shot a look at Daddy.

“I thought we agreed that he needed to go to bed,” he said.

Daddy settled Kurt onto the couch, “We’re going to go into the kitchen baby,” he said, squatting so he was eye-level with Kurt. “I want you to stay here. Do you want to watch a movie?”

“Too much TV today Daddy,” Kurt admitted.

Blaine continued as though Kurt hadn’t said anything. “How about Tangled? You like Tangled.”

Hugging Beau, Kurt nodded slightly. Daddy was acting strange, and Papa was ignoring him, and he really just wanted to go back to bed. Maybe the monster would eat him before they got there, and then Papa would be happy because Kurt would be gone.

Getting Kurt situated, Blaine gestured toward the kitchen, “I need to talk to you,” he said calmly.

Dave begrudgingly went to the kitchen, and Daddy squatted down one more time, “You watch your movie precious. Papa and I will be back in just a few minutes with your ice cream.”

Kurt forced himself to watch the movie, hugging Beau tightly. After a few minutes, he curled up on his side. Daddy hadn’t given him his pacifier, and he wanted to suck his fingers, but that was bad.

Fumbling through the drawer in the side table, he was happy to find a pacifier. He popped it into his mouth and began repetitively rubbing the satin of his blanket lining against his nose.

He tried to tune out the argument in the kitchen. Daddy and Papa would say it was a discussion, but they sounded mad.

Blaine was standing, glaring at Dave.

“What?” Dave said defensively, sitting on a stool. 

“How long?” Blaine asked.

“How long what?”

“How long before you let this go? Because he’s really upset Dave.”

“Good.”

Blaine shook his head at that, “No. He shouldn’t have done what he did, but we punished him. He’s a baby; he gets into stuff. You should have been watching him better.”

“So this is my fault?”

“I’m not,” Blaine stopped, taking a breath. When he started up again, his voice was softer, “I’m not saying that it’s anyone’s fault.”

“Really? Because it sounded like you thought it was mine.”

Blaine ran his hands through his hair, frustrated. “He thinks you hate him. He was sobbing.”

Dave looked guilty for a minute, and then he hardened himself. “He shouldn’t have done it Blaine.”

“No. Really? You think that going through your briefcase and using your paperwork as a canvas was a bad idea?”

“Thank you Sarcasmo,” Dave said, rolling his eyes. “He should feel bad. He did something wrong.”

“Bad, yes,” Blaine conceded. “Papa hates me, and he should because I’m bad? Might be too much.”

Dave leaned forward, resting his head in both of his hands, “Those were important papers Blaine.”

“Fine,” Blaine said, pulling the container of ice cream from the freezer. “Why don’t you sit out here with your important papers then. Kurt and I are going to be in the living room.”

Grabbing a couple of spoons, he went out to rejoin Kurt. “What did I miss baby?” Blaine asked, his voice slipping into the register he used when he talked to Kurt. 

“Gothel just kidnapped Rapunzel,” Kurt whispered around his pacifier. 

“Sit up,” Daddy instructed quietly, “You can’t eat ice cream lying down.”

Kurt sat up, leaning against Daddy. “Papa’s still mad?” he asked quietly, tucking his pacifier into his palm. 

Daddy kissed Kurt, “Daddy’s being difficult; I gave him some quiet thinking time. We’re going to eat ice cream and watch the movie.”

Kurt shook his head, “I was bad; I shouldn’t have ice cream.”

Blaine sighed, putting the ice cream on the side table and pulling Kurt’s unresisting body up to sit on his lap. “You were naughty, and you got spanked. Now, I want to eat ice cream and watch Tangled, but Papa doesn’t want to do that. Will you keep me company?”

Before Kurt could answer, Daddy held a spoonful of sticky toffee ice cream to Kurt’s lips, “Open,” he instructed.

Kurt let Daddy spoon feed him ice cream. After a couple of bites, he started trying to get off of Blaine’s lap.

“Down Daddy,” he mumbled.

“Where are you going baby?” Blaine asked him.

“I gotta ‘pologize to Papa,” Kurt said resolutely.

Blaine shook his head, “We’re going to give him a little time. Just like we let you have time when you’re angry with Papa and I. When he’s ready to talk, he’ll come out.”

“I gotta though Daddy,” Kurt said insistently, still wiggling.

“Kurt, stop,” Daddy said, his voice hardening slightly. He raised the remote to turn off the television. “What’s this about? And I don’t want to hear that you were mad; you need to explain to me what happened today. Now.”

Kurt tried for a third time to get off of Daddy’s lap, but he stilled for a moment when he got a swat to one of his legs.

“I will Daddy,” Kurt said, frustrated. “I just want to sit by myself first.”

Blaine let Kurt slide off of his lap, “You stay on the couch,” he instructed.

Kurt nodded, pulling into himself. Knees to chin, he wrapped himself up in his blanky. Avoiding eye contact, he said, “Papa...” he trailed off, not sure how to say what he was thinking.

Blaine waited. Kurt would tell him if he just stayed silent.

With a heavy sigh, Kurt said, “Papa’s job is good,” he whispered.

“You think?” Blaine asked.

“Papa likes being a ‘ccountant. He likes going to work every day.”

“And that makes his job good?”

“Papa likes it,” Kurt said. After a beat, he continued, “Better than staying home. He don’t like staying home.”

“Oh Kurt,” Daddy sounded so sad when he said that, and Kurt started crying again. “Baby, come here,” he pulled Kurt back into his lap, and rubbed his back. 

“I just thought,” Kurt cried, “I thought Papa liked being with me.”

Daddy rocked Kurt, playing with his hair, “Papa loves being with you sweetpea. He adores being with you.”

“He likes work better ‘an me. He don’t gotta change diapers at work.”

“Papa doesn’t like anything or anyone better than you,” Blaine reassured him. “Going back to work was a grown up decision that didn’t have anything to do with you.”

Kurt didn’t believe Daddy. Papa had said it was fun to stay at home with Kurt, but then Kurt had been naughty. He’d yelled at Papa and wet the bed. Then, Papa decided he didn’t like to be at home. 

And even when he was at home, he wasn’t paying attention to Kurt. Neither was Daddy. They were both doing paperwork and cleaning and making dinner. Nobody had time to cuddle or play tickle monster or color with Kurt. 

He let himself enjoy the cuddles; Daddy was being nice right now, and Kurt should take advantage of that. 

After a few minutes of no response, Blaine asked, “Do you understand baby? Papa and I love you so so much. We don’t go to work because we don’t want to see you. If we could, we’d stay home all day every day and play with you because that’s the most fun.”

“Papa could,” Kurt whispered. “He did. ‘Till I was bad, then he decided to go back to work.”

“No,” Blaine disagreed. “That’s not how this worked. Papa got offered a job that sounded like a lot of fun, and you said it was okay, and he decided to go. It has nothing to do with you being naughty. When you misbehave, you get spanked, or you have time out, or you have to spend some time alone thinking. We don’t abandon you in an empty apartment.”

Kurt sighed; Daddy was wrong. Nonetheless, he sounded very certain in his wrongness. Blaine waited a few more minutes, and then he offered Kurt some (slightly soup) ice cream. 

When Kurt ate it, he asked, “So everything’s better now? You understand?”

“Papa leaved me ‘lone because of work. Not because I’m bad,” Kurt recited. Daddy didn’t know. Papa must not have told him how bad Kurt was.

“Shall we watch some more movie before we get back into bed?”

Kurt nodded at that. He didn’t want to go to bed by himself. As he settled against Blaine, occasionally eating a bite of ice cream, Kurt decided that he would just try to do better. That way, Papa would see he was a good boy, and he would love Kurt.

Kurt woke up, back in bed. He was curled in his usual spot between Papa and Daddy. Papa must have carried him back to bed. He always woke up when Daddy did it. Sitting up, he looked at the clock.

It was 5:47. Kurt had 13 more minutes of sleeping and cuddles before Papa got up. 43 before Daddy would drag himself out of bed. Then, they would both get ready for work, and they would leave Kurt alone all day.

Kurt wanted to cry at that thought. He didn’t want to be alone all day. But he forced himself to stay calm. He was a big boy. He wasn’t going to be bad anymore. Not like yesterday. 

He decided to get up. He would surprise Papa with breakfast. To say sorry. Padding out to the kitchen, Kurt considered his options.

They had eggs, cheese, milk, bacon, and bread. Thinking for a moment, Kurt grabbed what he needed to make omelets. Papa would like that better than french toast. 

Getting to work, he managed to pull a reasonable meal together before Dave stumbled into the kitchen. Kurt pulled the pan off the burner. Rubbing his hands on the dish towel, he looked pleadingly at Dave.

“I’m really sorry Papa,” he said. He just wanted Papa to say that he wasn’t mad anymore. Well, that and for Papa to stay home with him all day. And maybe a few new sweaters. But right now, just for Papa to not be mad anymore.

Dave sighed. He’d been furious last night, but he’d mostly calmed down by the time that Kurt fell asleep. He wasn’t mad anymore, just tired. “Come here baby,” he ordered, holding his arms out.

Kurt hugged Papa, squeezing him tightly, “Sorry I was naughty Papa. I’ll do better. Promise.”

“I know pumpkin. I’m sorry I got so mad,” Dave rubbed Kurt’s back.

Pulling away, Kurt gestured at the stove, “I maked you breakfast to say sorry,” he offered.

“Thank you,” Dave said, going to grab plates.

Kurt stopped him, “No Papa. I can do it.”

Dave sat down, watching as Kurt plated up food and brought it over. He had missed Kurt cooking for him. Not that it never happened now, but they typically cooked with Kurt. 

“Sit down baby,” Papa told him, taking another bite.

Kurt settled onto the stool next to Dave, watching him eat. He shook his head when Papa held a bite of omelet up to his mouth. 

“No thank you,” he said.

“Bite Kurt,” Papa instructed calmly. 

“I’m not hungry,” Kurt started to get up, “I need to make one for Daddy too.”

Papa reached out, grabbing Kurt’s wrist and drawing him back toward the counter, “You need to do what you’re told,” he corrected.

Kurt sighed, but he took a bite.

“Watch the attitude,” Papa told him.

“I’m not hungry,” Kurt said again.

“Kurt,” Papa sounded like he wasn’t going to keep arguing, and Kurt climbed onto his stool. He was going to behave. He could do that.

Papa traded off bites with Kurt, not letting him get down to cook for Blaine until the breakfast was done. And even then, Papa got up and poured a sippy cup full of orange juice for Kurt. “Drink that too,” he said, handing it to Kurt. “I’m going to go and get ready for work. Are you okay?”

Kurt nodded, and Papa left the kitchen. By the time Daddy came out, Kurt had finished making him an omelet and some toast. He cleaned up while Daddy ate, and by the time they were ready for work, Kurt had the kitchen looking like he had never been in it.

Daddy and Papa were rushing, trying to get ready for work. If they hadn’t been, they maybe would have noticed that the kitchen was clean to Kurt’s standards. Which were slightly cleaner than an operating room. They gave him hurried kisses, and then left for work for the day.

Kurt got himself dressed then. He decided to spend his day cleaning. The apartment was in shambles; Blaine and Dave worked too much to keep it clean. Kurt would just make sure everything was tidy, and then he’d work on his posts. Maybe he could make something for dinner. They would probably like it if they came home to an actual meal.

Kurt was off in his head most of the day, not noticing that he didn’t stop to eat or have quiet rest. He forced himself to sit down for an hour to write his daily post, but once that was posted and he’d answered his emails, he was up and moving again.

When he started to make dinner, he realized they were out of a few things. A quick check of the time, and Kurt decided the best idea was to run to the grocery store. He had time to shop before he started cooking dinner. Everything would be done before they got home.

When Dave walked through the door, he was pleasantly surprised. He could smell something simmering. 

“Did you get home from work early?” he called, walking to the kitchen.

He was surprised to see Kurt standing in front of the stove, stirring something.

“And what are you doing?” he asked, coming up behind Kurt and giving him a hug and a kiss.

“Making you boeuf bourguignon,” Kurt explained, ducking out from under Dave’s arms so he could begin setting the table. “Do you want some wine? I didn’t have to use all of it.”

“O-kay,” Dave replied, sitting down at the counter. He accepted the glass of wine, and then sat, watching his boyfriend walking around the kitchen.

Kurt was talking animatedly, about six million different things. It reminded Dave of before, when they first started living together. After a while, he stopped worrying and wondering what was going on, happy t o see Kurt like this. He seemed so happy.

Blaine got home shortly thereafter. When he saw dinner, he assumed that Dave had made it. It wasn’t until Kurt hopped up to do the dishes that he realized that something was ever so slightly off.

Watching his boyfriend walk to the sink and begin cleaning up, he leaned toward Dave, “Has he sat down for more than 30 seconds since you got home? Other than dinner I mean.”

Dave shook his head no, “He’s been pretty chatty and active,” Dave acknowledged. Now that Blaine was home, looking at Kurt like that, Dave was starting to think that maybe he should have been more worried.

Blaine decided the best way to snap Kurt back was to simply pretend that everything was normal. “Okay baby,” he said, standing up. “Time for your bath. Do you want Papa or me tonight?”

Kurt froze for a minute, hands plunged in a sink full of hot water, “I need to do the dishes,” he responded. 

Blaine shook his head, smiling pleasantly, “One of us will do them. Am I giving you your bath, or do you want Papa today.”

A look crossed Kurt’s face, for just a second, but then it disappeared. “Whomever,” he said, his tone amiable. 

“I’ll do it then,” Daddy figured that he could handle Kurt. He knew what was going on. “Do you mind doing the dishes?” he asked Dave.

He led Kurt to the bathroom, leaving Dave to the dishes. Kurt had a harder time with that, “Don’t forget to portion it out separately before you freeze it,” he was ordering, “And be careful with the pan; it’s expensive.”

Blaine’s hand clamped down over his mouth, “Papa knows what he’s doing precious. Do you want bubbles tonight?”

That look again. Kurt forced himself to remain calm, “No thank you. The bubbles dry out my skin if I use them too much. 

Blaine nodded, turning on the water and plugging the tub. 

“Not too hot Daddy. It’s winter; it’s not good for my skin,” Kurt told him.

“Don’t worry baby. I know what I’m doing.” Blaine started undressing Kurt, who tried to help. Finally, gripping his hands, “Let me do it,” he instructed firmly. 

Kurt stopped trying to help, forcing himself to remain still so that Daddy could get him undressed. Even if this was one of his favorite shirts and Daddy acted like he got it from some 2 for $15 rack at Target.

He allowed Daddy to help him into the tub and sat mostly still for a few minutes. He started wiggling when Daddy grabbed conditioner.

“Not that kind,” he said, “I need the green bottle. You can’t just use anything on my hair.”

Daddy pulled back to look at Kurt appraisingly, “Kurt, are we going to start having spoiled brat attacks?”

“No,” Kurt said, with an expression on his face like he had no idea where Daddy would get the idea that he would be bratty. “But I need the right conditioner Daddy. Don’t you want me to be pretty?”

Blaine obligingly grabbed the green bottle, pouring a healthy amount in one hand, “I do, but I-”

Kurt cut him off, “A quarter size amount Daddy,” he said, sounding appalled. “You’re conditioning my hair, not Rapunzel’s.”

He stopped talking when he saw the look on Daddy’s face, “Kurt,” Daddy started, “Do you need some quiet time to think baby? I was going to suggest blocks after your bath, but we can have some quiet time if you like that plan better.”

Kurt shook his head, “No Daddy. But don’t waste the conditioner.”

The bath continued pretty much in that fashion, with Kurt picking at everything that Daddy chose to do. He didn’t want that soap, he wanted the other. Did Daddy think he was sanding a table, or washing Kurt’s back. Really Daddy? You were going to use a washcloth? Clearly, this was a day for a loofah.

Blaine finally pulled the plug on the bath, gesturing for Kurt to stand up. “I think that it’s time for little boys to get into diapers and jammies, and then play quietly,” he suggested.

“I don’t NEED a diaper,” Kurt wailed, frustrated beyond belief by Daddy and Papa.

Daddy didn’t respond to that, helping Kurt to dry off and then lay across the bed. Kurt pouted and squirmed throughout the diaper change, and Blaine finally laid one restraining hand on his hip, “Kurt, knock it off,” he ordered. His patience was gone. 

Kurt crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at the ceiling. He was a grown up all day while they were gone. To be put into a DIAPER when they got home was just too much for him to handle.

Blaine got him into a sleeper, and then led him out to the living room, where Papa was reading on the couch.

Papa took one look at Kurt’s face, and held his arms out, “Come here baby,” he said, sympathetic.

Kurt tried to remember that he was a grown up now, but he couldn’t. He burrowed into Papa’s arms, babbling out the injustices that had been forced onto him. “And then, he used too much conditioner, and he was scrubbed my back until it hurted Papa. And he wouldn’t even listen when I telled him. And and and,” he stopped, not sure what other horrors that Daddy had inflicted upon him.

“That Daddy is a meany,” Papa commiserated, kissing Kurt on the top of his head. “Should we run away together, and leave him here?”

Kurt nodded, happy to finally have found someone who understood. “To Paris Papa,” Kurt said.

“Okay. To Paris. We’ll leave Daddy here to get eaten by the under-the-bed monster.”

Kurt nodded again. He didn’t care. He didn’t even love Daddy. Daddy was mean. Daddy was not fair at all.

As he was thinking that, Daddy appeared in front of him, Beau Bunny and his blanky in one hand, a bottle of chocolate milk in the other.

“Is this a private party, or is mean Daddy allowed to join?” he asked, sitting down next to Kurt.

Kurt made a face, “Mean Daddy can come if he’s nice to me,” he said. “And also, he should probably provide oreos because I am sad and scarred from your cruelty earlier.”

“I know,” Blaine said sympathetically, “I made you take a bath, and I didn’t even let you order me around. You’re going to have to trade me in. Maybe Santana can give you baths?”

“Daddy,” Kurt complained, making a face, “Gross.”

Blaine pulled Kurt up into his lap. Scooting closer to Dave, he began tickling, “I know,” he teased, “I’m the meanest, worst, most horrible, Daddy on the face of the planet. You should trade me for a better Daddy.”

Kurt giggled, trying to evade Daddy’s tickles. “No Daddy,” he gasped, “I love you anyway but stop tickling pleeeeeeease.”

Blaine stopped, giving Kurt a hug. “I love you,” he murmured against Kurt’s neck.

“I know Daddy,” Kurt said, luxuriating in the Papa/Daddy/Kurt cuddles that he needed. As he relaxed against them, happily taking the bottle of chocolate milk, he decided that he just had to keep doing this. 

They came home, and the apartment was clean, and dinner was done. Now that he was good for them, they loved him and gave him cuddles. This was the answer.


	7. When Daddy Took the Day Off From Work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurt's new plan may not be sustainable.

Kurt has a new plan. It’s called the “Kurt’s Going to Be the Best Kid Ever So Daddy and Papa Love Him Again” plan. Some people may think that title is too long; Kurt feels that it is descriptive of his goals.

He starts getting up in the morning with Daddy and Papa. After they leave, he cleans the house and writes his post for the day. Sometimes, he has to do research or go grocery shopping, but he tries very hard to get everything done before Daddy and Papa get home. 

But it’s really really hard. Especially once Kurt realizes how much they’ve been letting things go. Nobody was wiping down the baseboards. The linen closet needed to be torn apart. What had they been thinking when they reorganized the tupperware cupboard? It looked like it had been done by drunken frat boys.

And so then, there were special projects. Which meant that Kurt had more work to do. Which made having quiet rest time hard. But, it was more important that Kurt put his plan into action. So, he began to forgo quiet rest time. Every day. Which is when the problems really started.

The problem with insomnia, Kurt has found after years of experience, is that the less he sleeps, the less he is able to sleep. The less he sleeps, the more tightly wound he becomes. And the next thing he knows, he is roaming the apartment at 3:00 AM, weepy and frustrated because he is exhausted.

It didn’t get to that point this time because Daddy and Papa were pretty strict about bedtime. Instead, it got to the point where Kurt was getting spanked pretty much every night after dinner, and then put to bed where he cried and cried for forever until he finally fell asleep.

Daddy and Papa were not monsters. They cuddled with Kurt and gave him bottles. They begged him to explain what was going on. But Kurt couldn’t. Because if he told them what was going on, then it would ruin his plan. And then, they wouldn’t love him anymore and they would leave and he would get eaten by the under the bed monster and everything would suck.

It took close to two weeks of bedtime tears and a gradually earlier tuck-in time before they finally figured out what was happening. And, it wasn’t because they suddenly noticed that everything in the home was running along smoothly like they had an army of maids and butlers. 

It was because Kurt’s nightmares returned. And he was waking up screaming and flailing, and Papa and Daddy were at the end of their ropes, trying to figure out how to help him.

After the third night of interrupted sleep, Blaine made a decision.

Standing in the hallway the next morning, talking quietly so as to not wake Kurt, he told Dave, “One of us is staying home today to trouble shoot the baby.”

Dave sighed, leaning against the wall, “I can’t. I don’t know what to say to him, and I think he needs you to do it. You’re better at not caving.”

“Practice,” Blaine responded. “I have YEARS of practice. Alright. Go to work. I’m going to have the baby sorted out by the time you get home.”

Dave agreed, and then he hurried off to work. Meanwhile, Blaine started breakfast for Kurt. When Kurt came wandering out, lured by the smell of pancakes and bacon, his hair was sticking up at different angles, and he was rubbing his eyes.

“Daddy? How come you’re home?”

Daddy put down the spatula and gave Kurt a hug, “Decided to stay home with my baby.”

Kurt leaned against Daddy, happy at that thought. “Can we go shopping?” he asked, thinking of all the things that they could today.

“Not today precious,” Daddy slid two pancakes and a few strips of bacon onto a plate. Buttering and cutting the pancakes, he poured syrup on it and set it down on the counter. “Sit down and eat your breakfast. I’ll get you some juice.”

Kurt sat down, starting to pout, “I don’t want to stay here Daddy. I wanna go out.”

Daddy handed over the sippy cup. Preparing a plate for himself, he looked at Kurt, “We’re going to talk about what’s going on with you. That is what we’ll be spending our day doing.”

Kurt pushed his plate away, “I’m fine Daddy.”

“Eat your breakfast. We’ll talk when you’re done.”

Kurt shook his head no, “I’m not hungry anymore. I gotta go write my post.” He started to get down from his stool, but he was stopped by Blaine’s arm wrapping itself around his bicep.

“You eat your breakfast, and then we’ll talk,” Daddy said, his voice still calm.

Kurt tried to jerk away. “No.”

Daddy put his fork down, LOOKING at Kurt, “Sit down and eat your breakfast, or you can go stay in the corner. What would you prefer?”

“I have to go-” Kurt whined.

Blaine continued LOOKING at Kurt, and he suddenly decided that sitting down was a good plan. “I wanna eat now Daddy,” Kurt said, picking up his fork.

“Good choice,” Blaine replied.

They ate their breakfast in silence. Then, while Daddy cleaned up, he made Kurt sit at the counter, watching. He didn’t let Kurt read or color. He just had to watch Daddy wash dishes and sweep.

When Daddy was done with that, he took Kurt’s hand. Leading him to the bedroom, Daddy got him dressed. With a diaper. Which Kurt hated. He wouldn’t let Kurt help at all. Which Kurt also hated.

The final straw came when Daddy BRUSHED KURT’S TEETH. Which had never happened before, but Kurt decided was also horrible and awful and in no way something that should be happening to him.

“Noooooooooo Dadddddddddyyyyyyyyy,” Kurt whined, trying to step away from the toothbrush.

That got him a swat to the back of his leg and a Daddy Look, “You let me brush your teeth Kurt Elizabeth, or I can start with some soap.”

Kurt glared, but he opened his mouth and allowed Daddy to brush his teeth. When that was done, Daddy led Kurt back out to the living room. Sitting on the couch, he pulled Kurt into his lap.

“We need to talk baby,” Daddy started. 

“No,” Kurt said, squirming in discomfort. He didn’t want to talk. Talking meant that Daddy and Papa were going to make him tell them stuff he didn’t want to talk about. He didn’t like this plan.

“Yes,” Daddy replied, “We’re going to talk.”

Kurt managed to get away, “No,” he answered, “I gotta write my post.”

Daddy stopped Kurt. Pulling him back, he swatted Kurt firmly several times. “Do you need to go to the naughty stool for a little bit baby?”

“I don’t want to talk,” Kurt said, eyes filling with tears. His awesome plan was not going to work if Daddy made him tell.

“I understand that, but you’re going to. So, naughty stool first, or would you like to tell me what is going on?”

“Why are you being so mean to me?” Kurt wailed.

“I know, I know. It’s not fair,” Daddy replied. “Go and sit. You can tell me when you’re ready to explain what’s up.”

Kurt stomped over to the corner. Hoisting himself up onto the stool, he stared at the wall. And stared. And stared. And stared. For forever.

Finally, he cracked, “Daddddddddyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy,” he whined.

“Yes?”

“Do I gotta sit here forever?”

“Yes,” Blaine said. “From now until you tell me what’s been bugging you kitten.”

“THAT’S NOT FAIR,” Kurt wailed.

“No talking in time out baby. I want you to be quiet until you tell me what’s going on. Thank you,” Blaine sounded wholly uninterested, flipping through a magazine.

Kurt grunted in frustration, kicking the wall.

“I can always try spanking you first if you need help?” Daddy asked.

“No.”

“Then you know what behavior we expect when you’re on the naughty stool. You don’t want me to get up and remind you.”

Blaine was surprised. Kurt made it for close to three hours before he finally cracked.

“If I tell you, you can’t tell Papa,” he started.

“Sorry, but that’s now we work baby,” Blaine was glad to see that Kurt was bending. It wouldn’t take that much longer.

Kurt lasted 45 minutes after that.

“It’s not fair. If I tell you,” he said, crying freely, “Then you tell Papa. Then Papa knows. And my plan won’t woooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrk.”

Blaine stood up. It sounded like Kurt was ready. Going over to Kurt, he rubbed his arms, “It sounds like a whole lot of upset baby. Come tell me about it, and we’ll figure out what we need to do.”

“Don’t want to Daddy,” Kurt bawled, “It’s not fair. I just wanna go work and it’s not fair,” he repeated.

“I know. Everything is sad right now. How ‘bout you tell me about it so we can figure out what we need to do next?”

Kurt nodded, twisting to hug Daddy, “I want Papa to lo-o-o-ve meeeeeeeeee,” he cried.

Daddy managed to pick Kurt up and settle him onto his hip. “Come on baby. We’ll talk about all this sad stuff and you’ll feel so much better. I promise.”

“I don’t want him to leeeeeeeeeeeeeave,” Kurt sobbed against Daddy’s shoulder.

“Papa is not going to leave,” Daddy reassured Kurt. He rubbed his back as he went searching for Beau. “We’re going to get you Beau and your blanky. And I’ll make you a nice bottle. Then, we’re going to rock for a little bit while we talk about all of this. Then, I’m going to fix it.”

“You caaaaaaaaaaaan’t.”

“Can too. I’m very persuasive and good at fixing stuff.”

Kurt sobbed against Daddy, near hysterics. Everything sucked. Nothing was fair. Once Papa heard that Kurt was such a massive screw-up baby who couldn’t take care of anything, he’d leave. And Daddy would go too because nobody would want to take care of him and he couldn’t take care of himself.

Daddy finished getting everything, and then he carried Kurt to the rocking chair. Sitting down, he rocked and rocked, waiting for Kurt to calm down.

When Kurt stopped crying, Daddy started to talk. “Nothing’s as bad as you think it is baby,” he murmured. “We’re going to talk about this. Papa loves you, and he’s not going to leave.”

When Kurt didn’t say anything, Blaine shifted a little to get a good look at the baby’s face. Which was relaxed in sleep. With a sigh, Blaine continued rocking, waiting for Kurt to wake up.

Kurt didn’t sleep for that long. He was tired, and cuddles were nice, but Blaine was not the world’s most comfortable mattress.

“Hi baby,” Daddy said, smiling at him.

Kurt was fuzzy. He couldn’t remember what was going on, “Why home Daddy?” he finally slurred.

“Stayed home with my baby,” Daddy told him, still rocking. “So we could talk about what’s bugging you. We had started, but you fell asleep.”

Kurt squinted. He was pretty sure that he hadn’t told Daddy anything. He didn’t think. He hoped not.

Daddy continued, “All about how you’re scared Papa’s going to leave,” he was bluffing. But he was banking on sleepy Kurt being kind of out of it.

“Because I’m a bad baby,” Kurt whispered. He must have told Daddy. 

“Can you tell me why you think you’re a bad baby Kurt?” Blaine knew he shouldn’t be excited because that was the most pathetic expression that Kurt had, but he had tricked him! He had really really tricked him! For his own good.

“I yelled at Papa,” Kurt said quietly, “And I was bad. Really bad. I telled him no, and I tried to boss him.”

“You had a temper tantrum baby. It happens sometimes,” Daddy told him, rocking and gently stroking his back.

“But then Papa got so mad Daddy. He yelled and yelled. In my face Daddy. And I wet the bed which is gross, and he hadda clean it up. Then he went back to work because I was too much trouble.”

Blaine didn’t know what to say. While he was trying to formulate a response, Kurt continued.

“So now, Papa don’t love me.”

Blaine knew how to respond to that, “Baby, we always love you.”

“Not when I’m bad,” Kurt insisted. He knew. Papa stopped loving him when he was bad. Now, he tried really hard to be good, but he had kinda forgotten how. So he wasn’t very good at being good anymore.

Blaine shook his head, “Papa loves you all the time.”

“No,” Kurt shook his head adamantly. Daddy was wrong. People only loved him when he was good. If he could just remember how to be a grown up all the time, then Papa would love him. He’d go back to being Dave first, but he wouldn’t leave. It was better than him leaving.

“Baby...” Blaine trailed off. He didn’t know what the magic words were to convince Kurt. Normally, when he came up against Kurt’s hard head, he’d found that spanking him worked. But he couldn’t spank Kurt for being upset and not believing they loved him.

After a minute of Daddy not finishing his sentence, Kurt wiggled. “Want down Daddy,” he insisted.

“We’re cuddling,” Daddy protested.

“No. Want down.” Kurt couldn’t waste time cuddling. He had to get up. He had to move. He needed to do stuff.

Blaine kept his grip on Kurt, “Why?” he asked.

“Is Thursday Daddy,” Kurt said. This was why things had been in shambles. They didn’t understand. There was a schedule. Thursday meant bathrooms. 

“Yes,” Blaine waited for more of an explanation.

“Bathrooms Daddy,” Kurt said, sounding desperate. Blaine was taking up all this time, and he wasn’t going to get stuff done, and then Papa wasn’t going to love him anymore. Why didn’t Daddy understand this?

“Okay sweetpea,” Blaine let him down. He had put Kurt in a diaper, but it was mostly a reminder. He wasn’t going to make him use it today. Especially not now when Kurt was finally starting to talk to him. 

Kurt quickly walked to the master bathroom. Opening up under the sink, he grabbed several bottles and a few cloths. Mirror first. There was order to things, and he could make everything right.

He scrubbed the mirror careful, making sure that all the water spots were gone. Then, looking up, he realized that NOBODY HAS CLEANED THE LIGHT FIXTURE ABOVE THE SINK IN WHAT LOOKED LIKE MONTHS. MONTHS.

This was anarchy. Pulling himself up to stand on the sink, he carefully wiped down the fixture. That’s when Blaine walked in, concerned and confused as to what was taking so long.

“What are you doing?” he asked, putting his hands on his hips.

Kurt turned to look at Blaine, “I’m cleaning. I told you. Bathrooms.”

Blaine stared at him for a moment, confused. Kurt, thinking the conversation was over, turned back to the task at hand. He finished up with the light fixture and climbed down before Daddy did anything.

“Is this what little boys do when they’re in the middle of conversations with grown ups?”

Kurt ducked under Blaine’s arm, grabbing the mat. This needed to go in the laundry. When Daddy grabbed his arm, he tried to shrug free.

“This is why the apartment is a mess Blaine,” Kurt insisted. “You and Dave don’t clean it when you both work. We can’t do this whole thing,” he gestured wildly between the two of them.

“We clean the apartment,” Blaine protested.

“No. You don’t. And I can’t just sit around here all day, looking at the walls, noticing the COBWEBS. I can’t do this Blaine. It was fine. You guys had your fun. We played your stupid game. And now, we can go back to normal. Because this?” he gestured again, encompassing the bathroom, “This cannot happen.”

Blaine let go of Kurt’s arm, looking at him. Did he really think this was a game? Had he not wanted it? Blaine wasn’t dumb; he knew that Kurt hadn’t been thrilled at the beginning. But he thought they had kind of grown into it. Kurt seemed to be happy. 

Hell, before Dave went back to work, Kurt had practically purred with satisfaction as he got his bottle at night. 

While Blaine was thinking, Kurt was sticking stuff in the washer, muttering with frustration.

“A household doesn’t just run itself Blaine. You and Dave would live in your own filth. We would have to get dug out by Haz-Mat. It’s better. It’s just better if you let me handle things. You two think that everything is fine as long as you come home and the apartment doesn’t look like it got hit by a tornado. Grown ups do not live this way. I haven’t lived in a house like this EVER. God. I could take better care of a house when I was 8 years old then either of you can now.”

Blaine walked out of the bathroom, catching the last bit of that. And the mystery was solved.

“Okay baby,” Blaine walked over, wresting cleanser out of Kurt’s hands. “We’re done. You’re done cleaning for the day.” He gently tugged Kurt out of the bathroom. 

“I need to finish Blaine.”

“Little boys do what their daddies tell them to Kurt Elizabeth. Do you need a spanking?” Blaine admonished lightly.

Kurt’s free hand flew to his backside and he started to shake his head. Then he remembered. “We’re done. I said we’re not doing this. Why don’t you listen to me?”

“It’s time for some nice lunch, and then you need some quiet rest I think. Shall we read stories? Hmmm? Would you like that baby?” Blaine intentionally kept his tone light and gentle. Kurt was a baby. Kurt was a baby. He just had to remember that.

“I’m BUSY,” Kurt screeched, still fighting.

That got him a smack to the bottom, and Blaine wagging a finger. “No no. Babies don’t yell at grown ups. Very naughty Kurt.”

He kept struggling. Blaine had lost his mind. He’d lost his mind, and he was going to make Kurt act like before. And it was a trick. Because as soon as Kurt acted like he did before, then everything went to hell.

Daddy and Papa came home, and they had to cook and clean. And they had no time for Kurt. And they got mad. And they fought. And then everybody went away and there was nobody to love him anymore.

Giving a defeated wail, Kurt slumped to the ground. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair. Daddy was going to make him do this just so they had an excuse to leave. 

Covering his face with both hands, Kurt curled up into a little ball of misery on the floor. Rocking himself slightly, he wailed. Hysterical.

“Okay. Okay,” Daddy was next to him, pulling Kurt up. “We’re going to go have a nice nap. Hmm? Does that sound nice? Baby?”

Kurt continued sobbing, and he struggled against Blaine.

“No. NO!” he shrieked, trying to get away. 

“Yes, I think we’ll have a little nap together. Maybe when we get up, we can finger paint. Or, we could bake cookies. Do you think you’re a big enough boy to help in the kitchen Kurt?”

Kurt got pissed off at that, “I’VE BEEN COOKING FOR YOU! YOU AND DAVE! WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE THIS? YOU CAN’T JUST PRETEND NOW WHEN YOU LEAVE ME ALONE SO YOU CAN GO OUT AND BE GROWN UPS AND YOU’RE GOING TO LEAVE ME YOU’RE GOING TO LEAVE YOU’RE GOING TO LEAVE AND I’M GOING TO BE ALL ALOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE.”

With that final statement, Kurt collapsed into Blaine, sobbing. They were going to leave. He’d told Blaine the secret. Even if they hadn’t been planning before, there was no way they would both stay now.

Daddy walked the floor, swaying and bouncing, as he sang “Baby Mine” to Kurt repeatedly. When Kurt finally fell into an exhausted sleep, he carefully lay him back down on the bed. Tucking him in with Beau Bunny and his special blanket, Blaine stood up. 

Stepping into the hallway, he kept the door cracked so he would hear if Kurt stirred. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, and dialed Dave.


	8. When Daddy and Papa Made a Grown Up Decision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurt is feeling far too little, and he needs help.

“You need to come home,” Blaine told Dave when his boyfriend answered the phone.

“Is everything okay?” Dave sounded panicked, and Blaine could hear fumbling on the other end. He must be trying to pull everything together. “I can be home in 15. Should I meet you at the hospital?”

“Why would you need to meet us at the hospital?” Blaine was puzzled.

“Because you need me home right away. Why do you need me home right away? What happened?”

“I fixed the baby. Except, he might be a little bit more broken now. That’s why I need you to come home.”

Not for the first time, Dave wondered how he had started dating the two of them. His life was so much more complicated now. “Is this going to be a ‘come home for an hour thing’ or a ‘come home for the rest of the day thing.’”

Blaine thought it might be a ‘come home for forever’ thing, but he didn’t want to scare Dave. “Better take the day,” he said.

Dave agreed, and they hung up. Blaine decided to hang out in the hallway, outside the bedroom. After a few minutes, he thought to text Dave.

The baby is sleeping. Be quiet when you come in. Also, we may have inflicted the trauma that only ‘Kurt picks dinner and gets cookies,’ will fix. Plan accordingly.

Dave responded several minutes later.

YOU may have inflicted trauma. He was only a little broken when I left this morning. Stop texting me. I’m driving. Not safe.

You stop texting me. Pick up the darn cookies. And macaroni and cheese. Get the veggie noodles though.

Dave read the last text as he pulled into the grocery store. And he thought about it as he walked the aisles, picking up things that made Kurt happy. Because he loved Kurt and felt badly.

Standing in front of the macaroni and cheese, Dave considered which one of his boyfriends scared him the most. Blaine said get the veggie noodles. Kurt hated the veggie noodles.

Blaine broke Kurt, so he felt badly. But Kurt was all sad and pathetic, and Dave had to spank him a lot lately because he was being naughty. 

Plus, Dave knew how this worked. At the moment, Kurt was probably VERY ANGRY at MEAN DADDY WHO MADE HIM TALK. Which meant there was an opening for BEST PARENT IN THE WORLD.

Officially, they did not participate in this competition. Because they were a team, and they had to present a united front. Unofficially, the reason that Blaine didn’t want them participating in the competition, was because Daddy was almost always the default winner, and competition would mean that occasionally Papa would win. At least that was Dave’s theory.

And although he almost cringed at how much this sounded like Kurt, it was not fair. So, he had an opening. And he certainly intended to take it. And if he maybe had to bribe Kurt with a little bit of refined flour, that was okay.

After grabbing a few boxes of Kurt’s preferred macaroni and cheese, he steered through the cookie aisle, grabbing mallomars and oreos. Because Papa was pulling out the big guns tonight. Finishing up with some lemonade and chocolate milk, he paid for the groceries and started toward home.

He put the groceries away when he got into the kitchen, and then went looking for Blaine and Kurt. He found Blaine sitting on the floor in the hallway outside their bedroom. 

“Hey,” he said, sliding to the ground. Blaine put down the magazine he was flipping through.

“So,” he started, “How much do you like your job?”

Dave gave him a look, “What?”

“He can’t do this,” Blaine was shaking his head, “He can’t Dave. He is spinning out. He needs one of us at home. And I’d rather it be you because you are amazingly able to find the fun in coloring and playing with his toys for hours, but it can be me if it has to be. Because he can’t do this, and we can’t do it to him.”

“Wow. That was a lot of information all at one time,” Dave said, trying to process everything.

“Yes,” Blaine said, not talking anymore. He really didn’t want to quit his job. But, it wasn’t fair for him to pressure Dave to do something he wouldn’t.

“What happened? Could you maybe back up to when I left this morning? Because you just vomited information on me.”

“You left. I made pancakes. He didn’t want to eat, but he did. Then I made him talk. Instead of talking, he opted to sit on the naughty stool for almost four hours. When he started crying hysterically, I cuddled with him. Then nap. Then awake. I tricked him,” Blaine looked pleased at that moment, and Dave cleared his throat.

“And then,” he said patiently.

“I told him that he already told me what was bugging him. And we talked a little. Apparently, you went back to work because he was bad. Which, next time tell me these things because I thought you just got a job because it happened,” Blaine smiled at Dave. It had been a long day, and he was tired.

“And then what happened Blaine?” Dave asked. It was like getting Kurt to acknowledge he’d broken a rule.

“He freaked out and started cleaning. A lot. And had a little rant about how we live in our own filth. Do you remember the ‘you live in your own filth’ rants?”

“The ones involving haz-mat?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.”

“It was bad. Then I made him take a nap because he got hysterical. And now we’re here. And we need to make a decision.”

Sliding over to sit against the same wall that Blaine was against, Dave sighed, thinking. Blaine leaned against him.

“We...” he trailed off. He didn’t know what to say.

“So, one of us has to quit?” Dave asked him. “We have no other options? Maybe we could figure something else out?”

Blaine looked at him, “He needs someone here full-time. It’s too stressful for all of us to have two of us working outside the home, and Kurt working here. But I told you Dave, I will quit if that’s what you want.”

Dave rested his head against the wall, looking up. “You love your job,” he said, staring at the ceiling.

Blaine nodded. “I do. But I love you and Kurt more.”

“My job’s not that great,” Dave said, still not looking at Blaine.

Blaine looked at him, “You like it though.”

Dave sighed, “Some of it. But not as much as you guys. I could stay at home again.”

Blaine moved, resting his head in Dave’s lap and looking up at him, “Do you want to?”

“Daddddddddddddyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy,” Kurt was crying, and Blaine forced himself up.

“Baby’s awake,” he said. He was frustrated; they still hadn’t come up with a solution. Walking into the room, he curled up next to Kurt in the bed. “Good nap baby?”

“I waked up and you weren’t here,” Kurt whimpered, clinging against Blaine. “You said you’d nap with me.”

“I know baby. Daddy was just talking to Papa. I was right outside the bedroom.”

“Papa come home soon?” Kurt whispered. He was still half-asleep.

“Came home early to be with you pumpkin,” Dave murmured, sliding into bed behind Kurt and giving him a hug. “Missed you too much to stay at work.”

Kurt twisted, “Missed me?” he asked.

“Work is long. And boring,” Dave replied, “I don’t get to bake cookies. And nobody gives me cuddles.”

Kurt pulled away, giving Dave a look, “Better not,” he said. “My cuddles.”

Papa hugged him, “Yes. All the cuddles belong to Kurt.”

Kurt nodded at that, snuggling against Papa, “Missed you lots.”

“Not as much as I missed you,” Papa told him. “You at least got to hang out with Daddy.”

Kurt shook his head no, “Daddy is mean Papa,” he told him. “He made me sit in time out, and I didn’t do NOTHING.”

Blaine snorted at that retelling. Extricating himself from the cuddles, he stood up, “I think I’m going to make something to eat.”

“Oh that Daddy,” Papa said. “He’s just awful.”

Kurt nodded, “He maked me be sad. Because he likes my tears,” he looked up at Dave, “He says they’re wonderful and make him happy. Because he’s the meanest ever.”

Dave nodded, fighting a smile, “That Daddy. You want me to beat him up for you?” He hugged Kurt and rubbed his back.

Kurt nodded, “Yes. But maybe only a little.”

“Okay,” Dave agreed. “Did you get to have any fun with Daddy at all Kurt?”

“No. Because Daddy is the meanest,” he gave Papa a look as though he were slightly dim. 

“Poor baby. You’ve been abused,” Dave told him. Sometimes, little Kurt who felt he had been subjected to torture was hilarious. “Do you want to get up?”

“Uh huh,” Kurt told him. “But first, I gots to tell you stuff.”

“Okay,” Dave waited. After a minute, he told Kurt, “What do you have to tell me baby?”

“Ummmmmmmmmm,” Kurt thought. “Daddy is mean,” he said.

“We’ve established that.”

“And it was no fun with him today.”

“Another thing you’ve told me. Did you complain to Daddy about how mean I was when I stayed home? I wouldn’t let you have macaroni and cheese.”

Kurt shook his head, “No Papa. You are lots nicer than Daddy. He maked me eat pancakes.”

“The horror,” Dave responded.

Kurt nodded, snuggling closer to Papa’s chest. He felt warm and cozy and safe. “Is much better with you. He wouldn’t take me shopping; I said please and everything. And, he wouldn’t let me help with lunch.” He looked up at Dave, “He didn’t even give me lunch Papa. He is trying to starve me.”

“Oh no!” Dave said, pulling away from Kurt so he could stand up. Reaching down, he hoisted the baby up onto his hip, “Shall we eat a snack?”

Kurt cuddled against Papa, “Beau is also hungry Papa.”

Dave picked up Beau. “He is? What is Beau hungry for?”

“Cookies,” Kurt said, smiling. “Daddy didn’t give me any cookies today either Papa. I need cookies. I am very hungry for cookies.”

Dave knew that cookies were not the most nutritionally sound meal, but he figured that one time wouldn’t hurt. He retrieved two mallomars from the kitchen. 

“Hi Daddy,” Kurt said, once the cookies were firmly in his hands. “Papa said I could have cookies.”

“Did he now?” Blaine asked, checking the pot on the stove. 

“Uh huh. Because I am very hungry.”

“Alright baby. I’m not going to take away your cookies. But just two, okay?”

Kurt nodded, “Uh huh. Now Papa and I have to go play in the living room.”

“Have a good time,” Blaine told him, pulling butter from the fridge.

“Daddy?” Kurt asked, grabbing the door jamb so Papa had to stop walking.

“Uh huh?” Blaine looked at Kurt.

“What are you doing?”

“Making you something to eat,” Daddy replied.

“What kind of something? My tummy is grumbly.”

Blaine smiled at that, “Late lunch. I thought you might like some macaroni and cheese.”

“Which noodles?” Kurt asked suspiciously.

Blaine rolled his eyes, “Don’t worry. Papa bought you the three cheese kind.”

“Goody!” Kurt bounced a little on Papa’s hip. 

“Can we go play now baby?” Papa asked him.

Kurt nodded, and he was carried into the living room. “See Papa. You buyed me the good mac’roni. Not the yucky veggie noodles. You should do all the groc’ry shopping because you buy the good food that I like.”

Papa nodded, putting Kurt down on the floor by the toys. “What are we going to play with baby?”

“Castle Papa.”

Dave nodded, pulling the castle and the little figures out. He settled onto his stomach, allowing Kurt to direct their play. He didn’t talk much, waiting to see if Kurt would tell him anything else.

“Is more fun when you play Papa,” Kurt said after a little bit.

Dave nodded. He wanted to talk, but he wanted Kurt to just say what he was thinking more. And if he talked, it would interrupt Kurt’s flow.

“Daddy don’t do funny voices for me. ‘Cept when he reads. Then he does good voices.”

Dave nodded again. 

“It’s fun when you play with me,” Kurt fell silent, manipulating the queen doll.

Dave waited. He could do this. Blaine was not the only parent. He could do this. As he was giving himself this pep talk, Kurt started talking again. 

“We played lots when you stayed home.”

“We did,” Papa replied.

“It was fun.”

“It was lots of fun. I loved playing with you.”

“Uh huh. We played lots and lots and lots. That was the fun part of you being home all the time.”

Dave nodded. He didn’t look at Kurt, but he could feel his face being studied intently. Finally, he asked, “What was the not fun part Kurt?” He kept his voice quiet, hoping that Kurt wouldn’t clam up.

“When I was bad.”

Dave made a noncommittal noise.

“Then it wasn’t fun. You didn’t like staying home when I was bad.”

Dave was terrified that he was going to fuck this up. He wasn’t sure if this was a talking time or a not talking time, and not for the first time since he started dating them, he wished for some kind of guidebook.

“Is work funner than playing with me?” Kurt asked finally.

“No,” Dave told him. “Nothing is more fun than being with you.”

“But not when I’m bad. Then it’s not fun.”

Dave sat up, “Will you come give Papa cuddles baby? I need some cuddles.”

Kurt crawled over to sit in Papa’s lap. Resting against him, he waited.

“I loved staying home with you,” Dave told him.

“But not when I was bad,” Kurt insisted.

Dave shook his head, “I don’t like punishing you, but you’re not bad. And even when your behavior wasn’t good, I still liked being at home with you.”

Kurt nodded, playing with Papa’s fingers. He pushed Dave’s hands together, so he was encircled by them, and then he pulled them apart.

“Papa? I gotta question,” he said.

“Okay. What is your question?” Dave nuzzled against Kurt’s neck.

“Is just ‘cause I’m curious though,” Kurt reassured. “If staying home was fun, then how come you goed back to work?”

“I forgot,” Dave said.

“Why you goed back?” Kurt twisted to look at Papa.

“No,” Dave explained. “I forgot that I hate suits. And sitting at a desk. And only getting to see you and Daddy at night.”

“You liked being at home with me? It was fun?” Kurt knew Papa kept saying he had liked it, but that didn’t make any sense because Papa could do anything, and he went back to work.

“I loved being at home with you,” Papa repeated.

“Why did you go to work then Papa? I don’t understand,” Kurt was getting frustrated. Papa wasn’t making any sense.

“I thought it would be fun,” Dave said, thinking. He wasn’t really entirely sure of why he went back. He had been having a great time staying home with Kurt. 

“But it isn’t?”

Dave shrugged, “It’s okay. Not as much fun as this.”

Kurt fell silent, thinking about that. 

After a minute, Dave was still trying to figure out why he had been so certain that going back to work was the answer. 

“Baby?” he said.

“Uh huh,” Kurt was still playing with Papa’s hands, but his fingers had slipped up into his mouth.

“What would you think about me staying home with you again?” Dave was speaking slowly. It made the most sense. He liked staying home with Kurt. Blaine loved Kurt, but he didn’t have the patience for the hours of coloring that Kurt loved. Or the endless battles between the tiny royal people. And neither of them liked stuffed animal fashion show, but Dave was able to feign interest much better than Blaine.

“But what about your job?” Kurt asked. He didn’t want to get excited because Papa liked his job; Kurt wasn’t selfish.

Dave hugged Kurt tightly, “Fingers out baby,” he said.

Kurt did as he was told, “You like your job.”

Dave nodded at that. “You know how you like your sparkle sippy cup?”

Kurt nodded. “It’s blue and sparkly. And it doesn’t have the plastic thing on the inside so it doesn’t make my face hurt.”

“Yes. You like that one. But what about your sippy cup with the monkeys on it?”

“It’s bigger,” Kurt said. “And it’s doesn’t have the stopper thingy either. It’s the best sippy. It has handles so it’s easy to hold if my hands are full.”

“So you like the monkey sippy best?”

“Uh huh,” Kurt said, confused. 

“You like the sparkle cup, but if you could pick either one...”

“The monkeys then Papa, but why?”

“Okay. Work is like the sparkly cup. Do you understand? You are the monkey cup. I like work okay, but I always want to be with you if I can.”

“You like staying home?”

“I love staying home,” Dave corrected. 

“Well,” Kurt said, “If you love it. You should do what you want Papa. Because you are the grown up and I’m not ‘posed to boss you ‘round. Is against the rules.”

Dave smiled, his face against Kurt’s neck. Because that was one of the absolute worst rules for Kurt. He had spent more time over one of their laps or in the naughty spot over that rule than any other rule they had.

“What would you think about it baby? Do you think that’s a good plan, or do you think it’s a bad plan.”

“If you want-”

Papa interrupted him, “I want your opinion.”

“What does Daddy say?” Kurt asked.

“Don’t worry about that. What do you want?”

Kurt tensed, “I don’t know.”

“Baby,” Dave said patiently, “There is no right answer. You will not be in trouble. I just need to hear your opinion.”

“I don’t-” Kurt cut himself off, “What if you do what I want, and then you hate it?”

“I won’t do what you want because you want me to. I’m asking your opinion. Daddy and I already voted. You are one third of the vote. That’s all.”

Kurt twisted, burying himself against Papa. It was too much. “You and Daddy already voted? Because if you need my vote, that means you dis’greed.”

“You stop worrying and just tell me what you want.”

“What if you hate me because I’m bad again?” Kurt’s voice was so little, and he was mushed against Dave’s neck. It took a minute to figure out what he had said.

“That will never happen,” Dave said, speaking slowly and firmly.

“But what if I tell you ‘Papa stay home,’ then I wet the bed and you hate me and everything is awful?”

Daddy came in then, settling next to both of them. He had a bowl of macaroni and cheese. “Turn around baby,” he instructed quietly, giving Dave a look.

“I was explaining to Kurt that you and I had talked about whether I should stay home. He doesn’t want to tell me what he wants,” Dave explained.

Blaine nodded, “Kurt, does Papa wanna stay home?” 

Kurt turned, looking at Daddy, “I don’t know,” his voice was getting squeaky with frustration, “He won’t tell me. And I don’t know what to say Daddy.”

“Open,” Blaine instructed, holding a spoonful of macaroni to Kurt’s mouth. 

Kurt ate the pasta, but he was quiet. 

Blaine looked at Dave, “Does Papa want to stay home?” he asked.

Dave nodded slightly.

“Kurt, can you explain to me why you’re having trouble telling us what you want?” Blaine bent so he was making eye contact with Kurt.

Kurt brought his knees up to his chin, covering his face with his hands, “Don’t want to.”

“Why?” Blaine’s voice was gentle, but Kurt knew that tone. It was the tone Daddy used when he wasn’t going to let things go. Blaine had used the same tone before he was Daddy. Before Dave had joined them even.

Kurt looked so miserable, so Blaine gambled. “Papa’s going to stay home Kurt,” he said quietly. 

Kurt shook his head, eyes still covered, “Not if it makes him sad.”

“Yeah,” Blaine said, scooting forward so he could hug Kurt, who was still sitting in Dave’s lap. “This is a grown up decision. Too big for babies. We can always reassess later, but Papa’s going to stay home.”

Kurt nodded, relaxing between Daddy and Papa. After a few minutes of Kurt Sandwich Cuddles, he started wiggling.

“Beau is hungry,” he mumbled, “Is there more mac’roni?”

Daddy stood up and reached for Kurt. Pulling him to his feet, he told Kurt, “We do have more macaroni. Are you going to help Beau eat his?”

Kurt nodded, and he was settled at the counter with more pasta. As he was eating, he stared at his bowl. After a few bites, he asked, trying to keep his voice as nonchalant as possible, “Papa’s staying home now?”

“Uh huh,” Blaine said.

“When?” 

“When what pumpkin?” Papa asked him.

“When you stay home with me?”

“Papa needs to talk to his boss. He needs to give notice,” Blaine told him gently. 

“Soon though?” Kurt sounded hopeful at that question.

Papa gave him a hug, “Soon baby. I promise. We should make a list of all the things we need to do once I’m home all the time.”

Kurt was off, listing on his fingers, “Cookies. And the ‘quarium. And the zoo. And the natural hist’ry museum. And shopping.”

Dave sat next to him, nodding at his suggestions, happy to see Kurt back to normal. They could make it two weeks until he stayed home.


End file.
